Theses and Dissertations - Department of Management

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Adherence to organizational routines: a micro-foundations lens
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2014) Maalouf, Jamal Tanios; Combs, James G.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Organizational routines are viewed as a source of strategic competitive advantage that enhances firm performance. How do organizations continue to adhere to organizational routines after the routines are integrated in the work flow? I introduce and define a new construct, adherence to routines, which captures the theoretical phenomenon of maintaining the repeatability of organizational routines. I apply trait activation theory to explain why employees adhere to routines. I theorize that three individual traits: (1) conscientiousness, (2) openness to experience, and (3) individual entrepreneurial orientation impact adherence to routines. Moreover, I theorize that employees' perception of their supervisors' initiating structure leadership moderates the relationships between the three individual traits and adherence to routines. In this study, I developed a scale for the newly introduced construct adherence to routines. Using a sample of 543 employees surveyed in the U.S., I validated the new scale. The findings also support my arguments that conscientiousness is positively related to adherence to routines, and that openness to experience and individual entrepreneurial orientation are negatively related to adherence to routines. I also found support for employees' perception of their supervisors' initiating structure leadership as a moderator to the relationship between conscientiousness and adherence to routines. These results suggest that initiating structure leadership may have triggered the expression of conscientiousness, resulting in higher levels of adherence to routines.
Can you feel it?: how and when leader passion impacts follower performance
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2020) Landay, Karen; Harms, Peter D.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Despite popular opinion that passion is a necessary ingredient for leadership, scholars have little insight into how, when, or even if leader passion impacts follower outcomes. I therefore make several contributions towards increasing scholarly understanding in this area. First, I reviewed existing definitions and measures of passion relevant to the workplace and provided a new, more comprehensive definition of work passion that conceptually differentiates it from related constructs. I also used socioanalytic theory to distinguish between felt work passion, which contains affective and cognitive elements, and displayed work passion, which contains behavioral elements. Second, in order to better align theory and measurement, I developed and validated new measures of felt (self-report) and displayed (other-report) work passion in two samples of working adults. The scales showed good convergent validity with other measures of work-related passion, somewhat concerning discriminant validity with job attitudes such as engagement and job satisfaction, and evidence of criterion validity with leader-member exchange. Third, I integrated social cognitive theory with theories of emotion, motive, and goal contagion to conduct an initial test of a multilevel moderated mediation model of how leader felt and displayed work passion influence follower felt work passion and performance, contingent on the emotional intelligence of both leaders and followers. In a sample of leaders and followers employed by a staffing agency, although I did not find support for my hypotheses, analysis suggested that leader displayed passion may interact with follower characteristics to predict follower outcomes.
Character, conditions, and cognitions: the role of personality, climate, intensity, and moral disengagement in the unethical decision-making process
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2011) Tillman, C. Justice; Kacmar, K. Michele; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Despite increased attention given to unethical decision-making, few studies have simultaneously examined the multiple influences that may effect this outcome. In addition, few studies have examined the processes through which unethical decision-making may be influenced. Drawing on field theory and the concept of situational strength and social cognitive theory and the concept of moral disengagement, the researcher examined the simultaneous influence of the meta-personality trait core self-evaluation, ethical climate, and moral intensity on ethical decision-making along with the role of moral disengagement as a mediator of the relationship between core self-evaluation and intent to engage in unethical decision-making. In addition, intent to engage in unethical decision-making was explored as a mediator of the relationship between core self-evaluation and unethical behavior. Maximum-likelihood structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the main effects of core self-evaluation, ethical climate, and moral intensity as well as the mediating and moderating hypotheses. The study's implications as well as limitations and directions for future research are discussed.
Choosing between the formal and informal economy: how do business managers in emerging markets decide?
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2014) Abi Aad, Amine A.; Combs, James G.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Why do managers in emerging markets conduct some activities in the informal economy and others in the formal economy when they have a choice? Using institutional economic theory, previous research shows that, at the country level, weak formal institutions create institutional voids that increase the transaction costs of using the formal economy. To evade high transaction costs, managers in emerging markets use the informal economy. However, previous research does not explain, at the firm level, why managers in emerging markets conduct some activities in the informal economy while conducting others in the formal economy. I theorize that, at the firm level, managers' social ties with formal institutions protect them against being singled out for enforcement and against potential opportunistic behaviors by business partners. In particular, opportunism, which increases transaction costs, might take place in the informal economy because contracting parties cannot be held legally accountable. That is, managers' social ties with formal institutions allow them to keep the transaction costs of using the informal economy lower than the transaction costs of using the formal economy for a specific activity. Moreover, I argue that not all managers who have social ties with formal institutions are prone to conduct more activities in the informal economy. In particular, based on regulatory focus theory, I argue that managers who have a promotion focus mindset are more prone to use their social ties with formal institutions to conduct activities in the informal economy. Using a sample of 206 Lebanese respondents, I developed two new scales: manager's social ties with formal institutions and manager's propensity to use informal economy. I then used these scales to empirically test my theory. The results of this study support my theory that managers who have social ties with formal institutions are more prone to conduct activities in the informal economy. However, the results of this study did not support the argument that managers who have a promotion focus mindset are more prone to use their social ties with formal institutions to conduct activities in the informal economy.
A connectionist model of the ideal organization: investigating nurse assessment of person-organization fit
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2019) Lowman, Graham Hughes; Harms, Peter D.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
The attraction and retention of nurses is a primary concern in the healthcare industry. I propose a context-sensitive connectionist model of person-organization (P-O) fit to provide a framework for understanding the cognitive information processing that nurses undergo when determining to accept a position or remain at an organization. Building on this framework, I develop and test an occupation-specific instrument for evaluating nurse P-O fit using a qualitative-to-quantitative method. This provides three primary contributions to the P-O fit literature and the study of nurse attraction and retention. First, the proposed model of P-O fit expands on prior P-O fit theories by 1) identifying where the ideal organization concept originates, 2) providing an explanation for why the ideal organization concept changes over time, 3) detailing the cognitive information processing and pattern matching process that dictates how P-O fit is determined by an individual, and 4) accommodating normative and distinctive fit preferences. Second, the development of the corresponding P-O fit instrument, the Nurse Ideal Organization Prototype (IOP), contributes to the literature by demonstrating the qualitative-to-quantitative process of creating an occupation-specific measure of P-O fit. Finally, by testing this measure utilizing overall, normative, and distinctive fit indices, contributions are also made by reinforcing the importance of normative fit relative to attitudinal outcomes and by comparing universal to occupation-specific measures of P-O fit. These contributions both expand current understanding of P-O fit and provide a novel perspective for addressing nurse attraction and retention.
The dark side of LMX: variances among out-group members in growth need and work outcomes
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2010) Wu, Keke; Johnson, Diane E.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Given my interest in LMX relationships and impression management (IM) behaviors, this dissertation was focused on the out-group in LMX, regarding member job performance and attitudes (Study I), and the impact of IM on performance ratings (Study II). With the suspicion that there may be individual differences that separate those who do not belong in the out-group from those who may belong there, Study I was designed to address the question concerning how the differences among out-group members impact their job performance and attitudes. Specifically, this study investigated the effect of growth-need strength (GNS) on out-group member job performance and job related attitudes. By adopting theories of person-job fit, some of the causes of undesirable work outcomes among out-group members, such as low commitment, low satisfaction, and high turnover intentions, were examined. Results from Study I suggest that for out-group members with a high growth-need, a better relationship with the supervisors may bring higher growth satisfaction and decreased turnover intent, but also more stress. With evidence found in Study I that not all out-group members believed that they belonged in the out-group, Study II investigated whether these out-group members would try to change their out-group status by means of IM. Cognitive Dissonance Theory was used as the theoretical foundation for this study. Data for both studies were collected from a state-owned hospital in main land China. Findings from Study II indicate that out-group members with a higher growth-need would use impression management more frequently, and that impression management attempts can be effective in improving performance ratings, even for out-group members.
Dynamic capabilities “now we see them” in the airline industry
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2016) Jifri, Ali; Marino, Louis D.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
The study of dynamic capabilities is one of the dominant research streams in strategic management. This dissertation contributes to the dynamic capabilities literature by theorizing and testing key questions regarding the relationship between dynamic capabilities and firm performance. Specific questions to be resolved include: 1) how does the performance of dynamic capabilities affect how firms adapt and co-evolve with the environment, 2) what is the interplay of two different kinds of dynamic capabilities operating simultaneously in the same context, and 3) what role does environmental dynamism and munificence play in the relationship between capability development and fitness in asset intensive industries. These questions are examined in the context of the airline industry where I identify two main capabilities that act as dynamic capabilities, namely, Resource Planning Capability (RPC) and Alliance Management Capability (AMC). First, I propose that there is a positive relationship between the two main capabilities (RPC and AMC) and sustained performance. Secondly, I propose alliance orientation will precede the development of an alliance capability. Third, I propose the interaction effect of AMC and RPC is positively associated with sustained performance. Finally, I propose that the positive relationship between each of these capabilities and sustained performance is moderated by environmental dynamism and environmental munificence such that the relationships is weaker, or stronger, at different levels of dynamism and munificence. I test hypotheses using longitudinal panel data on a sample of 132 firms in the airline industry. The analysis was performed using econometric estimators: a stochastic frontier estimator to test technical fitness of capabilities and random effect estimator to test the effect on dependent variable sustained performance. The results show that the two capabilities (RPC and AMC) have a positive effect on sustained performance. Interestingly, the two moderators appear to have differing effects on the two capabilities. Environmental dynamism appear to strengthen RPC and weakens AMC. Conversely, environmental munificence strengthen AMC and weakens RPC.
Ethical leadership in firms: antecedents and consequences
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2013) Li, Chenwei; Johnson, Diane E.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Recent ethical misconduct of leaders, in some high profile firms, has drawn increased attention to the reality that, ignorance on the ethics of leaders could threaten the survival of companies, and that ethical leadership may be a critical piece for company success. This dissertation aims to further our knowledge of ethical leadership by examining moral emotions as the antecedents (Model I) and employee creativity as the consequence (Model II) in two separate models. Specifically, drawing on empathy literature and moral affect theory of gratitude, Model I hypothesized that leaders' moral emotions (empathy and gratitude) should predict ethical leadership behaviors. Based on ethical leadership literature and theories of creativity, Model II hypothesized that ethical leadership, both directly and indirectly, should create high levels of psychological safety and certainty, and have an effective and positive influence on promoting employee creativity. Data collected from two semiconductor companies in China were used in the dissertation. Theoretical and practical implications as well as limitations and directions for future research were discussed.
An examination of the mediators and moderators in the relationship between justifications, organizational contexts, and discrimination in personnel selection
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2013) Holmes IV, Oscar; King, James E.; Avery, Derek R.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Discrimination research has largely focused on what has been called old-fashioned racism. However, research exploring modern racism is a burgeoning area. This dissertation attempted to extend and build theory on modern racism by explaining when justifications and organizational contexts can lead people to discriminate in personnel selection situations. Explicit and implicit justifications are examined and tested using directives from leaders, coworkers, and customers. Additionally, two organizational contexts, diversity climate and the hiring context, are examined to determine when they may lead to discrimination. Three-way interactions are hypothesized among modern racism, submissiveness to authority, and agreeableness that are posited to affect one's propensity to discriminate. Finally, two mediation processes, stereotype activation/application and casuistry, are hypothesized as the psychological processes that explain the decision making process. Binary logistic regression was used to test the hypotheses. Results from three lab studies revealed that explicit coworker justifications led to both the selection of fewer and more Black job applicants. Stereotype activation/application mediated the relationship between explicit justifications and organizational contexts on the selection of Black job applicants but not between implicit justifications and Black job applicants. A complete discussion of the results along with the theoretical and managerial implications, limitations, and directions for future research are also presented.
An examination of the role of social networks in the commercialization of entrepreneurial innovations
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2011) Noble, David; Kacmar, K. Michele; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Through the extension of Seibert, Kraimer, and Liden's (2001) social capital framework to the field of entrepreneurship, this paper develops and tests a theoretical model focusing on how an entrepreneur's social network structure and resources combine to impact the commercialization attempts of entrepreneurs regarding their innovative products and services. By drawing an analogy between an entrepreneur's social network and an organization's absorptive capacity, the model I propose predicts how the structure of an entrepreneur's social network and the resources embedded within that network may lead to the acquisition of essential resources and information, and ultimately, impacting the successful commercialization of their opportunity. This model bridges a gap in the entrepreneurship literature by testing long standing beliefs and assumptions regarding the role of social networks, including that a large network is always better and weak ties are necessarily more beneficial than strong ties.
Exchange without return: helping behaviors over time in positive and negative reciprocity relationships
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2015) Leon, Matthew R.; Halbesleben, Jonathon R. B.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
There is broad awareness that the health of coworker relationships is often built on reciprocity and assessments of member exchanges, where relationships are pursued or terminated based on benefits received. Both social exchange theory and equity theory propose that, when an exchange relationship is no longer favorable (i.e., a negative reciprocity relationship), an individual should terminate it to prevent resource losses. While this is economically rational, it often is impossible or impractical to terminate a relationship in a work context. The objective of this dissertation is to address this apparent mismatch between theories of helping behavior and typical workplace dynamics. I do so by exploring three possible explanations for this mismatch. First, I argue that the one of the key assumptions of social exchange theory, that the relationships are voluntary, may not always hold in a work setting. Second, I argue that fluctuations in investment behavior, specifically helping, changes in a non-linear fashion over time. Finally, I examine the impact of reciprocity, perceptions of team member efficacy, and third-party investment on helping behaviors in a sustained, negative reciprocity relationship. Across two experiments and one field study, I found that helping behaviors change discontinuously over time, individuals will help a partner complete an interdependent task regardless of reciprocation, and that helping is driven by a combination of factors including partner performance and general perceptions of a partner's helpfulness.
The frustration-aggression hypothesis revisited: a deviance congruence perspective
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2015) Crawford, Wayne S.; Johnson, Diane E.; Kacmar, K. Michele; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
In 1939, Dollard and colleagues presented the frustration-aggression theory. The main tenet of the theory posits that individuals become frustrated when goal attainment is prohibited or interrupted. Further, following frustrating events, individuals will respond with aggressive behaviors as a form of retaliation against agents of the frustrating events. Organizational deviance has been posited as one such aggressive reaction (Fox & Spector, 1999). This dissertation takes a unique perspective on organizational deviance; I argue that situations may arise when organizational deviance perceptions also serve as an antecedent of frustration. Specifically, I argue that in circumstances where supervisors’ and subordinates’ perceptions of employee deviance are incongruent, or misaligned, employees will become frustrated. Frustrated employees engage in aggressive behaviors in the form of retaliation and displaced aggression (Berkowitz, 1989). In the current study, I propose that frustrated employees may both retaliate at work and displace their aggression in both the work and family domains. Thus, I argue frustration leads to higher levels of coworker abuse, greater levels of relationship conflict, and greater work-to-family conflict. I also hypothesize that frustration will result in employees engaging in fewer interpersonal citizenship behaviors, which is also detrimental to organizations. This dissertation uses a time-lagged research design and field sample to test the hypotheses offered. A sample of 215 supervisor-subordinate dyads from a large municipality in the southeastern United States was used for hypothesis testing. I followed the latent congruence modeling procedures to test the hypotheses offered (Cheung, 2009). The structural-equation based latent congruence model allowed me to test the effects of incongruence on the mediator and whether frustration ultimately predicted the outcome variables. I did not find support for the hypothesized mediation model using congruence analysis.
Job Satisfaction and Life Satisfaction Factors Relating to Intent to Turnover for American Expatriates: An Empirical Study
(University of Alabama Libraries, 1990) Birdseye, Meg Guerin; Odewahn, Charles; Dulek, Ronald; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
A mismatch between theory and practice?: the role of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) motives and measures on performance outcomes
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2020) Irwin, Kristin; Drnevich, Paul; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are complex, multi-level transactions in which ownership of one firm is merged with another firm, or one firm acquires ownership of another firm. A wide-range of factors can affect M&A performance outcomes such as the driving firm’s corporate strategy, target availability and selection decisions, and knowledge absorption and resource integration issues, all of which can contribute to the potential for suboptimal M&A outcomes and failure. Varying contextual factors that influence M&A outcomes also makes assessing M&A performance outcomes problematic. Given these numerous challenges, it is not surprising that scholars have yet to fully model, theorize, and predict the performance outcomes of M&A activity effectively. One important, yet relatively under theorized factor is the motive for undertaking M&A activity in the first place. In this dissertation, I address this persistent gap in the M&A literature, using a typology of different theoretical applications, to theorize, model, measure, and empirically validate how M&A motives relate to different M&A outcomes. I utilize a multi-method triangulation approach through three studies to demonstrate the foundational importance of M&A motives and then explore further the different theoretical applications and relationships with varying M&A outcomes. Specifically, I perform a cross-discipline M&A motive literature review (Study 1), develop a stepwise approach using big data of M&A motives (Study 2), and test specific relationships of M&A motives to M&A outcomes (Study 3). My contributions include an alignment of multiple theoretical frameworks and a more expansive conceptualization of M&A motives. I differentiate among antecedents and moderators to M&A outcomes through introducing a new M&A motive categorization typology. By assessing M&A motive measures and utilizing a triangulation method, I develop a new method for how to capture M&A motives from practice. Utilizing the new M&A motive measures, I show through empirical testing how the assessment of M&A motives can influence our understanding of the inconclusive M&A performance outcomes. My findings have implications for both research and practice by demonstrating how a firms’ motivations for engaging in M&A activity affect the likelihood of M&A success or failure, and how a variety of theory applications, and their constructs and measures helps better capture the varying M&A performance outcomes.
The more we know; the less we know: the effects of interpersonal networks on employees misperception of peers preferences to utilize family-friendly benefits
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2017) Mandeville, Ashley; Halbesleben, Jonathon R. B.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Pluralistic ignorance is a situation in which individuals inaccurately perceive the attitudes of their peers within their work group to be different from their own and subsequently align their behavior with what they mistakenly believe are the attitudes of their peers. Prior research on has tended to focus on the consequences of pluralistic ignorance, including a recent study on family-friendly benefit utilization. This study seeks to examine the predictors of misperceptions, a key ingredient of pluralistic ignorance, in the context of peers’ preferences to utilize family-friendly benefits, using social network analysis. Specifically, this study examines the role of centrality on the degree to which central members misperceive their peers’ preferences over time and the degree to which their preferences influence the group over time. Further, this study examines how the overall network structure can suppress the relationship between centrality and misperceptions. Contrary to what one may assume, the more central an employee in their network, the greater their misperceptions of their peers’ preferences towards family-friendly benefit utilization. The results of this study imply that pluralistic ignorance is a possibility, even for work groups with close interpersonal relationships.
Organized Labor in Etowah County, Alabama
(University of Alabama Libraries, 1956) Barksdale, Oliver D.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
The purpose of this thesis is to study organized labor in Etowah County, Alabama. Emphasis will be given to the history of unions, and to an analysis of the present union scene. Certain background material will be included to establish the setting in which this union activity has occurred.
The personal cost of being in the in-group: the relationship between leader-member exchange quality and work-family conflict
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2011) Lawrence, Ericka R.; Kacmar, K. Michele; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Research examining the influence of leader-member exchange (LMX) on employee outcomes is plentiful. However, research exploring the potential negative consequences of engaging in LMX relationships has been limited. In order to obtain a better understanding of these complex relationships, this study predicts a curvilinear relationship between LMX and work-family conflict. Role overload and job engagement also are examined as mediators of the LMX and work-family conflict relationship. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine 72 dyads. The findings from this study indicate that a curvilinear relationship does not exist between LMX and work-family conflict. Additionally, role overload and job engagement did not mediate the relationship between LMX and work-family conflict. A discussion of the results along with the strengths, limitations, directions for future research and practical implications are also presented.
Precariousness, anticipatory justice, and belief in delayed pay-off affect workers’ intertemporal choice orientation: implications on socioeconomic mobility
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2021) Wang, Yi-Ren; Ford, Michael; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Research has suggested that workers in precarious work conditions tend to show a temporal discounting pattern for intertemporal choices (i.e., decisions that involve competing rewards between now and the future), which has the potential to reinforce their socioeconomic disadvantages. Integrating Immediate-Delayed Compensation Theory (Martin, 1999a) and Uncertainty Management Theory (Lind & van den Bos, 2002; van den Bos & Lind, 2002), this dissertation aims at explaining and identifying ways to mitigate the motivational challenges associated with workers in precarious conditions. Three studies were conducted to test the hypotheses: a two-factor factorial experiment, a three-wave longitudinal study covering a one-month period, and a three-wave longitudinal study based on a nationally representative sample covering a four-year period. Findings across these three studies suggest that a lack of belief in delayed pay-off could be the mechanism explaining why precarious work conditions trigger the development of a temporally-discounting pattern of behaviors. In order for workers to strive for and stay engaged for long-term career rewards, it is crucial that they believe their efforts will be fairly compensated in a distal future. This finding contends that self-control failure may not be the only, primary driver of worker’s intertemporal choice orientations and instead presents an alternative explanation that worker’s temporal discounting pattern can be socially determined. This dissertation also reveals that anticipatory organizational justice played a particularly critical role in promoting worker’s belief in delayed pay-off and their future-oriented behavioral pattern. Anticipatory organizational justice was also found to predict improvements in one’s subjective social status four years later, showing evidence for its effect on workers’ upward mobility. These positive effects remained valid at the presence of currently-experienced organizational justice in the same model, supporting the unique importance of the anticipated organizational justice for workers to stay motivated for their long-term careers in an uncertain, delayed-return situation. Findings from this dissertation provide meaningful implications for workplace inequality and upward social mobility.
Retribution or reconciliation: investigating employees’ responses to abusive supervision
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2019) Song, Xiaochuan; Ford, Michael; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
Abusive supervision has been linked to a number of negative employee-related issues, including work-related issues such as counterproductive work behaviors and decreased job performance, and non-work related issues, such as work-family conflict, psychological stress, emotional exhaustion, excessive drinking, and health problems. Extant literature has suggested that based on Social Exchange Theory, employees who are victimized by abusive supervision are more likely to engage in workplace deviant behaviors, a response to the abusive supervision. However, from the standpoint of justice maintenance, engaging in workplace deviant behaviors represents the “process” of justice restoration, leaving the “outcome” of justice restoration yet to be examined. In this dissertation, I proposed the reconciliation of the relationship between supervisor and victimized employees is the “outcome” of justice restoration. Meanwhile, through the lens of power asymmetry and organizational conformity, I further proposed that when experiencing abusive supervision, some employees are likely to seek to reconcile the relationship with abusive supervisor without engaging in workplace deviant behaviors, such that employees may seek to reconcile because of the motivation of seeking expediency and pursuing future rewards. Furthermore, I explicated a mediation model that details employees’ perception of and reaction to abusive supervision on a long-term basis. Specifically, I found that employees consider abusive supervision to be a justice violation and engage in workplace deviant behavior to restore justice. However, justice restoration behaviors do not necessarily lead to relationship reconciliation. Meanwhile, I found some employees are likely to reconcile their relationship with supervisor without engaging in deviant behaviors. Furthermore, reconciliation is positively related to employees’ supervisor satisfaction. Last but not least, employees’ perception of supervisor support, the value of a relationship with supervisor, and the need for harmony influence their reactions to abusive supervision. Specifically, employees who perceive a stronger level of supervisor support are more likely to engage in deviant behaviors in response to abusive supervision. Furthermore, employees who placed a greater value on the supervisor relationship and who reported a stronger need for harmony are more likely to reconcile their relationship with the supervisor. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Risk in the eye of the beholder?: an examination of risk evaluation, role expectations and workplace risk-related behavior
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2015) Stoutner, Oliver Keith; Bachrach, Daniel G.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
This dissertation presents the results of three studies designed to enhance understanding of how individual risk evaluation pertains to role theory and how prospect theory can offer clues on the process undergirding the translation of employee role expectations into behavior in the workplace. In studies 1 and 2 I develop a novel scale for evaluating employee risk-related role expectations. Study 3 draws on a sample of 439 working adults and examines how coworker general (non-work-related) risk propensity affects employee’s role expectations regarding risk and expectations of coworker approval. Further, I explore the linkages between employee expectations and subsequent behavior and the influence of coworker indicated approval. Integrating prospect and role theories, I find support for the hypothesis that coworker risk propensity has a negative relationship with employee risk-related role expectations, and expectations of approval. I also find support for the positive relationship between employee risk-related role expectations and behaviors, and mixed support for the positively moderating role of coworker indicated approval. Implications for theory and practice are discussed along with directions for future research.

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