Conscientious Employees Research Articles

Hostile climate, abusive supervision, and employee coping: Does conscientiousness matter?

The current study draws on the transactional theory of stress to propose that employees cope with hostile work environments by engaging in emotion-based coping in the forms of organization-directed deviance and psychological withdrawal. Specifically, we propose that supervisors' hostile organizational climate perceptions act as distal environmental stressors that are partially transmitted through supervisors' abusive actions and that conscientiousness moderates the proposed effects. First, we hypothesize that supervisor conscientiousness has a buffering effect by decreasing the likelihood of abusive supervision. Second, we hypothesize that highly conscientious employees cope differently from less conscientious employees. Among a sample of employees and their immediate supervisors, results indicated that while hostile climate perceptions provide a breeding ground for destructive behaviors, conscientious individuals are less likely to respond to perceived hostility with hostile acts. As supervisor conscientious levels increased, supervisors were less likely to engage in abusive supervision, which buffered employees from the negative effects of hostile climate perceptions. However, when working for less conscientious supervisors, employees experienced the effects of perceived hostile climates indirectly through abusive supervision. In turn, less conscientious employees tended to cope with the stress of hostile environments transmitted through abusive supervision by engaging in acts of organization-directed deviance. At the same time, all employees, regardless of their levels of conscientiousness, tended to cope with their hostile environments by psychologically withdrawing. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

In Defense of FMLA: The Unfounded Criticism Against a Noble Legislation

Several groups, especially from the business side, have criticized the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) as imposing burden on employers that are required to comply with it. And for those who support the Act, they argue that it has inadequate scope and coverage. However, most of the criticisms are unfounded and appear to undermine the well-intended reasons behind this noble legislation. The paper discusses four criticisms made against the FMLA. The first criticism concerns the Act’s provision dealing with serious health condition. The second criticism concerns the intermittent leave provision in the Act. The third criticism deals with the Act’s scope of coverage. And, the fourth criticism deals with the impact that the Act has on conscientious employees. The paper argues against all these criticisms by showing that notwithstanding the concerns and unfounded criticisms, the FMLA helps to save U.S. jobs while minimizing gender discrimination by its very application.

Effects of tidy/messy work environment on human accuracy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between accuracy and conscientiousness among people working in a tidy/messy work environment. Design/methodology/approach – A laboratory experiment was conducted, where participants performing a simple task in a highly controlled environment were sorted into two different treatments, a tidy or a messy work environment. Findings – The results of this study suggest that conscientious people commit more errors in a messy environment than in a tidy environment. Therefore, one of the most significant findings to emerge from this study is that a messy environment could be detrimental to the accuracy of conscientious people. Research limitations/implications – This study is limited in several respects. First of all, the sample is not large, with 80 participants; some variables, such us IQ levels, fatigue levels, caffeine consumption, etc. were not controlled for. Third, the task was restricted to inputting data into a computer. Practical implications – Taken together, these findings suggest the need to promote excellence in work environment tidiness, because highly conscientious employees will work with greater accuracy, while the less conscientious will not be affected. Therefore, overall, accuracy will be better. Consequently, the managers of the organization should be committed to defining policies about high standards of tidiness in the workplace environment. Originality/value – This is the first study to provide evidence of the moderation of the tidy/messy work environment in the relationship between conscientiousness and human accuracy. The present study sheds light on the impact of messy work environment on accuracy of high conscientious people, inducing them to work in a defective way.

Are the effects of conscientiousness on contextual and innovative performance context specific? Organizational culture as a moderator

We argue that conscientiousness is a context-specific disposition and its relationship with contextual and innovative performance will be activated in certain organizational cultures. We hypothesized that the relationship between conscientiousness and contextual performance would be higher in outcome-oriented cultures and the relationship between conscientiousness and innovative job performance would be higher in innovation-oriented cultures. These two hypotheses were not supported. We further hypothesized and found support that conscientiousness and contextual and innovative performance relationships are stronger in combined outcome- and innovation-oriented cultures. Our results indicate that these two cultural values complement each other in facilitating positive outcomes for conscientious employees.

Citizenship under pressure: What's a “good soldier” to do?

AbstractOrganizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) are typically defined as discretionary behaviors that contribute to the effective functioning of organizations. Prior research has generally focused on instances in which employees willingly engage in such behaviors; however, because OCBs are often informally encouraged and rewarded, workers may experience pressure to be “good soldiers” within their organizations. Using a sample of 245 employees, our findings indicate that citizenship pressure is related to increased levels of OCB, particularly among unmarried and less conscientious employees. However, there appear to be negative consequences associated with citizenship pressure, even when controlling for OCB and other job demands, such as role overload and hours worked. In particular, citizenship pressure is associated with work–family conflict, work–leisure conflict, job stress, and intentions to quit. Implications of this study and some directions for future research are also discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Evidence-Based Design and Stewardship of Our Limited Resources

I am on record as believing that projects are designs clearly founded on a research-informed method (Hamilton & Watkins, 2009). It seems to me that crucial decisions in any sustainable, energy-conscious, environmentally friendly design should be based in part on research findings. This a special issue of HERD that addresses the subject of evidence-based design for healthcare organizations committed to sustainable practices.Few topics are as timely as discussions of our shared sustainable future, and there are few settings more difficult to design for sustainability than hospitals with their critical functions, continuous operation, constant energy consumption, huge demand for water, and enormous generation of waste. (Hamilton, 2008, p. 33)I wrote the preceding last year as part of a commentary for an issue of Frontiers of Health Services Management that focused on Hospitals: Improving the Workplace, Saving Money, and Healing the Earth. Although the focus of this issue somewhat different, there are notable elements of the Frontiers papers that bear reviewing here.Coller and Grunseth (2008) describe the situation at St. Mary's Hospital Medical Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They have an environmental success story that springs from the stewardship obligations of the Hospital Sisters Health System and the teachings of Jesus Christ, St. Francis, and St. Clare, who believed in for the and all living creatures. The Hospital Sisters required every hospital in their system to integrate environmental standards into their facilities and communities. With the support of the local board, an Environmental Statement for St. Mary's Hospital Medical Center declared its reverence for the earth and recognition that protecting the environment is critical to our community's long-term health (Coller & Grunseth, 2008, p.12).Coller and Grunseth share a litany of successful results. I am impressed by the report of an overall recycling rate of 31.5% by 2006, which had grown to 40% in 2007, sending 40% less trash to the landfills. The authors contend that a typical hospital doing well to recycle 25% of its waste streams, according to Hospitals for a Healthy Environment. They explain that in 2007 St. Mary's recycled more than 163 tons of waste material. Its innovative programs-such as recycling medical waste suction canisters, to name only one example- are superb models for emulation, and St. Mary's openly shares the lessons learned.The mandate model of stewardship demonstrated in the Hospital Sisters example-or similar mandates that originate from a system, board, trustees, or executive leadership-is an important one. Every healthcare organization plays a role in its community (or communities) and has an obligation to make wise use of limited resources. The pursuit of evidence-based design one way for these organizations to demonstrate their commitment to stewardship, and when leaders set the course, good things can happen.Gehant (2008) tells the story of grassroots activity by environmentally conscientious employees that spurred a hospital's involvement and commitment to environmental principles. Boulder Community Foothills Hospital in Colorado in a progressive college community with an activist history. A volunteer green team was formed and the actions that followed aligned the goals of the organization with the goals of the employees. A full-time sustainability coordinator was hired to develop and maintain environmental initiatives. The board subsequently approved a Statement of Principles of the Environment, which deals with waste reduction, waste disposal, recycling, nonrenewable resources, toxic emissions, alternative transportation, the purchase of recycled and reusable products, water conservation, and a commitment to full disclosure of incidents that harm the environment. It obvious that attention to energy use was important and that significant results were garnered in that area. …

The Challenge of Sustainable Hospital Building

FEW TOPICS ARE as timely as discussions of our shared sustainable future, and there are few settings more difficult to design for sustainability than hospitals with their critical functions, continuous operation, constant energy consumption, huge demand for water, and enormous generation of waste. It is almost a cartoon caricature to say that the gargantuan volume of dangerous and toxic wastes constantly spewed out of our hospitals is making the communities and environments around them sick, and so to wonder about the irony that to some degree they are probably creating their future clientele. BOULDER COMMUNITY HOSPITAL, BOULDER, COLORADO David Gehant lets us know early in his piece on Boulder Community Hospital that grassroots activity by environmentally conscientious employees spurred the hospital's involvement and commitment to environmental principles. These are folks from a progressive college community in Colorado with an activist history. Management's decision to develop a volunteer team and the actions that followed began to align the goals of the organization with the goals of its employees. The decision to hire a full-time sustainability coordinator to develop and maintain environmental initiatives strikes me as forward thinking and relatively rare in the industry. Following the decision to support the bottom-up initiatives of the staff, board approval of the Statement of Principles of the Environment completed the process of endorsement at every level of the organization and allowed the environmental attitude to permeate the culture. This strikes me as an important lesson for organizations wishing to emulate Boulder Community Hospital's success. Its Statement of Principles of the Environment deals with waste reduction, waste disposal, recycling, nonrenewable resources, toxic emissions, alternative transportation, purchase of recyclable and reusable products, water conservation, and commitment to disclosure of incidents of environmental harm. While the list is impressive and laudable, I wondered why energy consumption didn't appear. By the conclusion of Gehant's paper, it is obvious that attention to energy use became important to the organization and that it received significant results in that area. Gehant's documentation of the system's results is extraordinary. It is recycling 500,000 pounds per year, saving more than $2000,000 per year in surgical instrument wraps and instrument reprocessing, and generating more than 100 kilowatts from solar panels. In 2004 it was able to document saving more than 1.5 million gallons of water, nearly a million kilowatt-hours of energy, 1,779 cubic yards of landfill, and 13,500 pounds of air pollutants for which it won the Eco-cycle Award. Boulder Community Hospital makes a strong business case for enlightened healthcare organizations. The numbers and resulting savings from its decision to go green would seem to tickle the fancy of any chief financial officer at any hospital. I would have liked some additional comments from the author about what kind of effort is required to gather this sort of data. While hospitals are awash with more data than any reasonable manager might need, and under regulatory obligation to report practically everything associated with the services they provide, few healthcare organizations have a system in place to capture the kinds of data that Boulder Community Hospital has collected to document its sustainability performance. It is said that one can't manage anything that is not measured; if so, healthcare organizations must learn to measure new indicators of stewardship, such as gallons used in irrigation, amounts of disposables, pounds of red bag waste, or tons of landfill. Boulder Community Hospital is a system of facilities, one of which is the new and well-documented Boulder Community Foothills Hospital, which earned LEED Silver Certification. Another is the older main Boulder Community Hospital in Boulder. …

Trait conscientiousness, leader‐member exchange, job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviour: A test of an integrative model

Competing theoretical models were tested, linking organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) to trait conscientiousness, job satisfaction and leader‐member‐exchange (LMX) quality. Meta‐analytic structural equation modelling results provide strongest support for a model wherein more conscientious employees display more OCB, which enhances LMX quality, leading to greater job satisfaction. In‐turn, employees reciprocate their higher job satisfaction by demonstrating more OCB. Beyond supporting the view that OCB represents employee reciprocation for the satisfying job experiences typically stemming from higher‐quality LMX, our findings help to legitimize the notion that OCB may be used, particularly by more conscientious employees, as a means of nurturing higher‐quality LMX and to gain access to more satisfying job experiences.

Job characteristics, flow, and performance: The moderating role of conscientiousness.

The present article aims to show the importance of positive work-related experiences within occupational health psychology by examining the relationship between flow at work (i.e., absorption, work enjoyment, and intrinsic work motivation) and job performance. On the basis of the literature, it was hypothesized that (a) motivating job characteristics are positively related to flow at work and (b) conscientiousness moderates the relationship between flow and other ratings of (in-role and out-of-role) performance. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 113 employees from several occupations. Results of moderated structural equation modeling analyses generally supported the hypotheses. Motivating job characteristics were predictive of flow, and flow predicted in-role and extra-role performance, for only conscientious employees.

PERSONALITY AS A DETERMINANT OF EMPLOYEES' REACTIONS TO JUSTICE AND ORGANIZATIONAL REWARD PERCEPTIONS: A COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE PERSPECTIVE.

I utilize cognitive affective and cognitive dissonance theories to argue that personality determines employees' responses to perceptions of justice and organizational rewards. In a longitudinal field study of 446 employees across a number of organizations, I find highly conscientious employees have more positive work reactions than less conscientious employees if they perceive a fair work environment even if the extrinsic rewards (e.g., pay, promotion) provided are low. Additionally, extraverts have more positive work reactions than introverts if they perceive high levels of coworker support yet they perceive unfairness in their work environments. The impact of these findings on existing theoretical perspectives and practical implications are discussed.

The "New Property" Theory of Welfare Rights: Promises and Pitfalls

The "New Property" Theory of Welfare Rights:Promises and Pitfalls Elizabeth Bussiere (bio) While always central to the U.S. liberal lexicon, the idea of security has loomed very large in political discourse since 9-11. The destruction of national landmarks, coupled with a faltering economy, has aroused a foreboding sense of insecurity even among the solidly middle class. Yet it is the poor who are the most vulnerable. A recent study should give pause to those who advocate stiffening the work rules under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Increased numbers of children are living in households without either parent, a disconcerting development given that TANF was touted as a means of strengthening families. The "stresses of the new welfare world — loss of benefits, low-wage jobs at irregular hours and pressure from a new partner needed to pay the rent" contribute to family break-up.1 Ironically, some TANF recipients' plights have deteriorated because of their own dogged efforts to be conscientious employees. In August 2002 a New York City mother was charged with neglect and lost custody of one of her children after she had gone to her welfare-to-work job at the city's human resources office, leaving her kids with their substance-abusing father. The mother was at work when one child injured himself while the drunken father slept.2 The heightened sense of physical insecurity compels Americans to rethink the principles of our social contract. This essay provides an analysis of the "new property" theory of Charles A. Reich, a Yale University law professor during the 1960's whose theory about insecurity influenced poverty lawyers and Supreme Court justices. Originating in the McCarthy era, Reich's ideas have added resonance for those uneasy about the war on terrorism. In the mid-1960's Reich published two prominent articles advocating that all government benefits, including professional licenses and welfare grants, be reconceptualized as "new property." The fragile "boundary" between the individual and the State needed strengthening to provide the citizen a safe haven from government authority. Since private property was the functional equivalent of a secure "island," Reich sought to convert "government largess" into "new property" rights. While the catalyst for his theory was government's suppression of political dissent, later Reich became aware of other government excesses, e.g., government-sanctioned "midnight raids" designed to catch welfare mothers having out-of-wedlock sexual relations.3 Reich's explanation of the new property theory is suffused with the classical liberal language of "negative liberty" — the freedom of the individual to act unencumbered by political restraints. The Supreme Court incorporated Reich's libertarian language into its Goldberg v. Kelly decision in 1970, requiring government to provide pre-termination hearings to welfare recipients.4 [End Page 1] [Begin Page 4] Yet, as Gregory Alexander's essay reveals, Reich's new property theory contained a conception of "positive liberty" encompassing a right to subsistence. Holding that the poor's subsistence rights flow from their "rightful share in the commonwealth," Reich argued that the U.S. welfare state could never assure individual "well-being and dignity" without providing a "vested legal right" to public assistance. Government had a duty to respect both the negative rights under the Constitution's Due Process clauses and a positive, substantive right to welfare assistance, which he viewed as codified in the Social Security Act of 1935. Unlike Professor Alexander, however, I maintain that Reich's new property theory contained ideological contradictions that undermined a positive theory of welfare rights. Nevertheless, I conclude that Reich's ideas deserve reexamination today because he grappled seriously with a set of circumstances that is eerily familiar today. The Political Contexts of Charles A. Reich's "New Property" Theory Reich's new property theory originated as a civil libertarian reaction against the abuses of government authority during the McCarthy era and the wide discretion that had accrued to bureaucratic officials since the New Deal era. While a law clerk to Supreme Court Associate Justice Hugo Black, Reich thought about recasting property rights in order to give greater protection to civil liberties. Barsky v. Board of Regents, in 1954, was a pivotal case for Reich. Dr...

Personality and High-Maintenance Employee Behavior

We applied the Abridged Big Five Dimensional Circumplex (AB5C) model (Hofstee, de Raad, & Goldberg, 1992; Johnson & Ostendorf, 1993) to examine the intertwined influence of conscientiousness and agreeableness on high-maintenance employee behavior. Specifically, we investigated whether these two traits help to mutually paint a portrait of individuals who engage in chronic and annoying behavioral responses in the workplace. Results of hierarchical regression analyses on matched data collected from 338 clerical workers indicated, as hypothesized, that among highly conscientious employees, those low in agreeableness received higher supervisory ratings of high-maintenance behavior than workers high in agreeableness. Implications for research and practice are highlighted.

The ethical and legal quandary of email privacy

What should conscientious employees and their ethical employers expect? It's hard to say.

Observations and Comments on Reinventing Government

A relatively recent best-selling publication and continuing popular book entitled Reinventing Government has received acclaim on the one hand, and on the other substantial criticism. Various elected officials and administrators of public agencies from Florida to California have suggested the book as a blue-print for the development of more effective and efficient government. A more critical reading of the book suggests that while it does present some noteworthy concepts, it takes liberties with historical fact, makes unsupported assumptions and demonstrates little respect for the country's conscientious, hard-working and productive public sector employees. As a result, the book and many of its recommendations, while being worthy of discussion, cannot be considered a serious piece of scholarly journalism.

Participation in action

At Kingston Works both parties to this agreement have attempted to evolve an approach to the operation of the plant that is somewhat different from the traditional approach for large industrial organisations. This approach is based on the belief that conscientious employees, properly informed and carrying out their duties in an intelligent manner, are the best assurance of an effective operation from the point of view of our customers, the shareholders of the company and the people who work here. Thus, both parties to this agreement have worked together to set up plant procedures which reflect these convictions and which give freedom to employees to discharge their responsibilities without unnecessary restrictions. This approach, and the response of employees to it, made it possible some years ago to eliminate time clocks. Later on, the traditional hourly pay system was discontinued and since that date all employees at Kingston Works have been paid on a salaried basis. Both parties take pride in the progress that has already been made in developing an improved working climate which benefits both the employees and the company and intend to continue their efforts in this direction during the life of this agreement.