Master of Arts (M.A.), Xavier University, 2014, Psychology

Extensive research has established a strong, reciprocal relationship between job satisfaction and OCB in the workplace. The aim of this study was to examine perceptions of OCB and the effect those have on perceptions of job satisfaction. It was hypothesized that perceptions of OCB would positively predict perceived job satisfaction. It was also hypothesized that attribution would moderate the relationship between perceived OCB and perceived job satisfaction. Finally, it was hypothesized that ratings of perceived OCB engagement would be positively related to perceived working relationship with the individual's supervisor. Data were collected from a sample of 85 participants. Simple linear regression was used to test the first hypothesis and it was found to be supported. Ratings of perceived OCB engagement did significantly predict perceived job satisfaction. A hierarchical regression was used to test attribution as a moderator but the results were not significant. A correlation was used to test the relationship between perceived OCB engagement and perceived working relationship with the supervisor and the results were significant, supporting the third hypothesis. The results have both theoretical and practical implications, which are discussed along with limitations and future research directions.

Committee: Morell Mullins Ph.D (Committee Chair); Dalia Diab Ph.D (Committee Member); Mark Nagy Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Psychology; Organizational Behavior; Psychology; Social Psychology

Master of Science (M.S.), Xavier University, 2021, Psychology

Gender has historically been measured using a binary male/female forced choice format. However, research has shown that binary gender measurement formats (i.e., male/female forced choice) cause harm directly and indirectly to gender-diverse individuals by potentially misgendering them, excluding them from representation in research, and more. While a body of research on best practices for gender measurement exists, there has not been research done on the intersection between mood and different methods of measuring gender. This mixed-methods study examines affective reactions from LGBT+ and non-LGBT+ individuals to a binary gender measurement format and an alternative, inclusive gender measurement format. Participants completed either the binary or inclusive gender measurement item followed by the Positive Negative Affect Schedule. Qualitative data were gathered from gender-diverse participants regarding their personal experiences with gender euphoria. Results showed LGBT+ participants had higher negative mood than non-LGBT participants when presented with the binary gender measurement format; however, LGBT+ participants displayed higher negative mood in general than non-LGBT+ participants regardless of gender measurement format. Gender-diverse participants displayed significantly higher negative mood than cisgender participants when presented with a binary gender measurement format. A working definition of the phenomenon gender euphoria was created from the qualitative data gathered from gender-diverse participants. Future research should explicitly address individuals' feelings about different gender measurement formats. Additionally, future research should be conducted by a more diverse research team, as well as sample from a more diverse pool of participants. Finally, organizations should make an effort to address LGBT+ job satisfaction specifically.

Committee: Morrie Mullins Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Dalia Diab Ph.D. (Committee Member); Mark Nagy Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Business Administration; Labor Relations; Psychology; Social Psychology

Master of Arts (M.A.), Xavier University, 2019, Psychology

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether bringing one's dog to work was associated with positive social, emotional, and physical benefits to employees. This study also explored whether a dog owner's level of pet attachment moderated the strength of these associations. Participants (N = 544) were employed dog owners recruited from online dog interest groups. This study showed that those that bring their dog to work have significantly more positive benefits in the areas of the social environment at work, overall stress, turnover intentions, and job satisfaction. No support was found for beneficial outcomes in the areas of schedule satisfaction, ability to control stress, or perception of overall health. Also, no support was found for Exploratory Hypotheses predicting that pet attachment, measured by the Monash Dog Owner Relationship Scale (MDORS), moderated the relationship between bringing one's dog to work and these outcomes. However, exploratory analyses revealed that the Perceived Costs subscale of the MDORS had a significant moderating relationship between bringing one's dog to work and the outcomes of ability to control stress, overall stress, and turnover intentions. These findings suggest that allowing employees to bring their dog to work provides several positive outcomes, especially in improving the social environment at work and reducing stress levels, which has implications for reducing turnover and increasing job satisfaction. Future research should examine in more detail which facets of pet attachment are related to which outcomes for employees who bring their dog to work.

Committee: Morell Mullins Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Dalia Diab Ph.D. (Committee Member); Mark Nagy Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Animals; Behavioral Psychology; Behavioral Sciences; Management; Occupational Psychology; Organizational Behavior; Psychology

Master of Arts (M.A.), Xavier University, 2018, Psychology

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of heterosexual interracial workplace romances on co-worker perceptions of an organization and job performance of romance participants. Previous research (Barratt & Nordstrom, 2011; Brown & Allgeier, 1996; Golebiowska, 2007; Herman & Campbell, 2012) has examined attitudes toward interracial romances and perceptions of workplace romances separately. As a result, research on perceptions of and attitudes toward interracial workplace romances was missing in the literature. The hypotheses of the study predicted power dynamics and race combinations to have a significant main effect on co-worker perceptions of the organization (i.e., work environment, social climate, and overall worker morale) and mean aggregate job performance of romance participants. Participants were 244 users of Amazon's Mechanical Turk, an online crowdsourcing site that allows for quick recruitment of participants who provide relatively high-quality data. The results indicated hierarchical workplace romances have a negative effect on the work environment, social climate, and overall worker morale. Exploratory analyses revealed hierarchical workplace romances have a significant negative effect on perceived job satisfaction. The analyses also showed a significant interaction between power dynamics and race combinations on turnover intentions. Follow-up tests revealed that hierarchical workplace romances with a Black male supervisor led to higher turnover intentions compared to hierarchical workplace romances with a White male supervisor, regardless of the race of the supervisee. Future research should examine the effect of other workplace romance combinations on key workplace-related outcomes, including rating fairness of job performance.

Committee: Morrie Mullins Dr. (Committee Chair); Dalia Diab Dr. (Committee Member); Mark Nagy Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Organizational Behavior; Psychology; Social Psychology

Master of Arts (M.A.), Xavier University, 2016, Psychology

The present study seeks to capture a larger picture of the dynamic nature of workplace humor by simultaneously assessing both the type and the source of the humor involved, and their effects on perceived job satisfaction. Based on the literature on in-group/out-group perceptions and incivility, two sources of humor (supervisor and co-worker) were examined in combination with two types of humor (affiliative and aggressive). Data for this vignette-based study were collected from undergraduate students. Results showed a significant effect for humor type on perceived job satisfaction, such that individuals exposed to affiliative humor reported higher levels of perceived job satisfaction than individuals exposed to aggressive humor. There was no support for the source of humor interacting with the type of humor on perceived job satisfaction. Future research should continue to explore the role that humor plays in the workplace by examining additional situational and social factors and by using data from actual organizations. Despite the subjective nature of humor, efforts to quantify humor and one's sense of humor should also continue to be explored.

Committee: Morrie Mullins Ph.D. (Committee Chair) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2015, Educational Leadership

Skillful teachers are key to developing good schools. Because of this, understanding the school as a workplace is necessary to investigate why teachers leave and what encourages them to stay. The relationship between the principal, as the boss, and the teacher, as the employee, is one under-researched component of the school workplace which is important for developing a broad understanding of teacher turnover. This cross-sectional study uses a definition of principal mistreatment behaviors from the literature in the development of an original mixed method survey and a random sample of teachers from public schools in the State of Ohio to investigate how often principal mistreatment behaviors are experienced by a random sample of teachers in K-12 public schools. Mistreatment behaviors were paired with an opposite principal support behavior using Likert-style response options and were specifically focused on the 2012-2013 school year. Open-ended questions were included which asked for more general experience with principal mistreatment behaviors, effects on the teachers health, opinions about school culture and student bullying, and the effects of principal treatment behaviors on the teachers sense of efficacy and job satisfaction. The result of the study suggests that principal mistreatment and lack of support behaviors are widely experienced by teachers in the sample; however, these behaviors occur at a low frequency. Almost half of the teacher experienced severe level principal mistreatment behaviors, as defined by past research, during the school year. Mistreatment behaviors experienced by teachers resulted in a variety of teacher's health concerns. A majority of teachers considered the principal-teacher relationship as an important factor in their sense of efficacy and job satisfaction. It is recommended that the education of future teachers and principals include a model of administration leadership which is developed by actual teacher experience. Further researc (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Thomas Poetter (Committee Chair); William Boone (Committee Member); Kathleen Knight Abowitz (Committee Member); Andrew Saultz (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Leadership; School Administration

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

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

Abusive supervision refers to an employee's perceptions of negative interactions with one's supervisor that are threatening in a non-physical way. Abusive supervision has been shown to have a negative impact on the individual as well as the organization. However, there is little known about how the social context in which abuse might occur can influence the relationship between abusive supervision and outcome variables. This study proposed to look at how group-level perceptions of supervisor behaviors moderate the relationship between individual level perceptions of abuse and individual level experiences of strain such as physical and psychological health, emotion exhaustion and job satisfaction. Group-level perceptions were predicted to act as a buffer and reduce the negative impact of abusive supervision on individual level outcomes. Groups where there may be a lack of/ low group-level perceptions of abusive supervision, the relationship between abusive supervision and individual level outcomes was expected to be stronger. Data were collected from 43 groups of employees with a final N of 172. Hierarchical Linear Modeling and regression analyses were conducted and the results revealed that there was not enough variability between groups for the moderation effects to be significant. Individual level abusive supervision significantly predicted the individual level outcomes, except in the case of job satisfaction. Since the cross-level analyses using HLM were not significant, moderation analyses were conducted using OLS regression. The moderation analyses were significant only in the case of physical health symptoms and the results were not in the expected direction. Potential explanations for the results and future directions are discussed.

Committee: Steve M. Jex PhD (Advisor); Mike Zickar PhD (Committee Member); William O'Brien PhD (Committee Member); Mary E. Benedict PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Psychology; Behavioral Sciences; Behaviorial Sciences; Management; Occupational Health; Occupational Psychology; Psychology; Social Psychology; Social Research