Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2013, Psychology/Industrial-Organizational

Past research has identified relationships between job insecurity and both organizational citizenship behaviors and job search activities. The current study expanded on that research by examining the moderating effects of two personality and coping variables--work locus of control and control-oriented coping--on the relationships between job insecurity and the two outcome variables: organizational citizenship behaviors and job search activities. Online survey data were collected from a sample of 309 permanent, non-unionized employees in the United States who worked over 30 hours a week. Hierarchical regression analysis identified a negative relationship between job insecurity and organizational citizenship behaviors, as well as a positive relationship between job insecurity and job search activities. Additionally, control-oriented coping interacted with job insecurity in explaining variance in both organizational citizenship behaviors and job search activities. Work locus of control did not interact with job insecurity in explaining incremental variance in organizational citizenship behaviors and job search activities. Practical implications of results and suggestions for research are discussed.

Committee: Steve Jex (Committee Chair); Stefan Fritsch (Committee Member); William Balzer (Committee Member); Rob Carels (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2013, Psychology/Clinical

One area of workplace spirituality ripe for investigation is use of religion and spirituality (R/S) to cope with job insecurity. Pertinent literature on transactional coping, R/S coping, sanctification of work, workplace spirituality, and job insecurity is reviewed. Using Mechanical Turk, 467 individuals from the United States who were experiencing some type of job insecurity in their full-time jobs participated in this study. Participants had worked at their respective companies for approximately 4.31 years. The sample was 52.9% male, 77.5% Caucasian, with a mean age of 30.22 years. Approximately 38.5% of the participants stated they never attended R/S services and 35.5% denied having any R/S affiliation. Positive R/S coping moderated the relationship between an individual's organizational commitment and job satisfaction. There was a stronger positive relationship between organizational commitment and job satisfaction for people who use less positive R/S coping relative to greater use of positive R/S coping. Negative R/S coping separately moderated the relationships between total job insecurity and cognitive/affective job insecurity with psychological distress and health respectively. For those individuals who reported greater use of negative R/S coping, the relationship between either form of job insecurity with psychological distress was more strongly positive than for people who used lower levels of negative R/S coping. For those who reported greater use of negative R/S coping, the connection between either form of job insecurity and poorer health was stronger. Sanctification of work moderated the relationships between organizational commitment and health, organizational support and psychological distress, as well as organizational support and health. In each of these cases, greater use of sanctification was tied to stronger relationships between the organizational and adjustment related variable: positive relationships between organizational var (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kenneth Pargament (Advisor); Annette Mahoney (Committee Member); Alfred DeMaris (Committee Member); Steve Jex (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Psychology; Behavioral Sciences; Business Administration; Clinical Psychology; Management; Occupational Health; Occupational Psychology; Organizational Behavior; Psychology; Religion; Spirituality

MS, Kent State University, 2019, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

The purpose of this study was to identify the perceptions of college student on job insecurity and how these perceptions affect their choice of jobs or career paths. The study was aimed to inquire if college students were more likely to choose jobs based on their job insecurity perceptions. Also, the study focused on gender disparities among males and females when selecting jobs or careers based on perceived insecurity. A survey was conducted on Qualtrics for students in a Northeast Ohio university who were registered for management class in Spring 2019. A total of 269 responses were used for the analysis. The results indicated that perceived job insecurity had no impact on career selections for college students. Job insecurity perceptions and gender differences also had no impact on perceptions about the hospitality industry.

Committee: Aviad Israeli (Advisor) Subjects: Management; Social Research

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2011, Psychology/Industrial-Organizational

Workplace incivility was first defined by Anderson and Pearson (1999) as a less intense form of deviant behavior with ambiguous intent to harm. Although past research has established the relationship between incivility and strain reactions experienced by targets of incivility, this paper proposes not only to provide further evidence for this relationship, but also to contribute to our knowledge by exploring the moderating effects of Perceived Organizational Support (POS) and Job Insecurity. POS refers to the belief that the organization cares about its employees and values their contribution. On the basis of social support theory, it was hypothesized that POS would moderate the relationship between incivility and strain reactions by acting as a buffer against negative workplace interactions such as incivility. At the same time, job insecurity would act as a moderator between incivility and strain in such a way that it would be likely to enhance the negative effects of workplace incivility on employee experiences of strain. In this study, strain was measured at both the physical and psychological level. Data was collected from 167 nurses currently registered in the state of Ohio as part of a larger study funded by NIOSH. All of the main effect hypothesis between the independent and moderator variables and the dependent variables were supported. However, the moderation hypotheses were not supported. Also, exploratory analyses were conducted to see if various sources of incivility (for ex. Physicians, other nurses, supervisors etc.) made a difference to the amount of well-being experienced by nurses. Issues relating to small sample size and lack of power as well as future directions are discussed.

Committee: Steve Jex PhD (Advisor); Mike Zickar PhD (Committee Member); William O'Brien PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Psychology; Behavioral Sciences; Behaviorial Sciences; Health Care Management; Occupational Psychology; Organization Theory; Organizational Behavior; Psychology