Workplace status: The development and validation of a scale.

Research suggests that employee status, and various status proxies, relate to a number of meaningful outcomes in the workplace. The advancement of the study of status in organizational settings has, however, been stymied by the lack of a validated workplace status measure. The purpose of this manuscript, therefore, is to develop and validate a measure of workplace status based on a theoretically grounded definition of status in organizations. Subject-matter experts were used to examine the content validity of the measure. Then, 2 separate samples were employed to assess the psychometric properties (i.e., factor structure, reliability, convergent and discriminant validity) and nomological network of a 5-item, self-report Workplace Status Scale (WSS). To allow for methodological flexibility, an additional 3 samples were used to extend the WSS to coworker reports of a focal employee's status, provide additional evidence for the validity and reliability of the WSS, and to demonstrate consensus among coworker ratings. Together, these studies provide evidence of the psychometric soundness of the WSS for assessing employee status using either self-reports or other-source reports. The implications of the development of the WSS for the study of status in organizations are discussed, and suggestions for future research using the new measure are offered. (PsycINFO Database Record

When is success not satisfying? Integrating regulatory focus and approach/avoidance motivation theories to explain the relation between core self-evaluation and job satisfaction.

Integrating implications from regulatory focus and approach/avoidance motivation theories, we present a framework wherein motivational orientations toward positive (approach motivation orientation) or negative (avoidance motivation orientation) stimuli interact with workplace success to mediate the relation of core self-evaluation (CSE) with job satisfaction. Using data collected from supervisor-subordinate dyads (Sample 1) and time-lagged data (Sample 2), we found that the results from two studies indicated that the interaction of workplace success and avoidance motivation orientation mediated relations of CSE with job satisfaction. Although approach motivation orientation did not interact with workplace success, it did mediate the CSE-job satisfaction relation on its own. Implications for the CSE and approach/avoidance literatures are discussed.

Assessing the impact of common method variance on higher order multidimensional constructs.

Researchers are often concerned with common method variance (CMV) in cases where it is believed to bias relationships of predictors with criteria. However, CMV may also bias relationships within sets of predictors; this is cause for concern, given the rising popularity of higher order multidimensional constructs. The authors examined the extent to which CMV inflates interrelationships among indicators of higher order constructs and the relationships of those constructs with criteria. To do so, they examined core self-evaluation, a higher order construct comprising self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, emotional stability, and locus of control. Across 2 studies, the authors systematically applied statistical (Study 1) and procedural (Study 2) CMV remedies to core self-evaluation data collected from multiple samples. Results revealed that the nature of the higher order construct and its relationship with job satisfaction were altered when the CMV remedies were applied. Implications of these findings for higher order constructs are discussed.