Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling Research Articles

Doubly latent multilevel analysis of the relationship among collective teacher efficacy, school support, and organizational commitment.

Understanding the sources and the effects of collective teacher efficacy has been one of the central interests to many educational researchers and practitioners, because it is critical to understand how teachers can shape, and are shaped by, the educational processes in schools. Following the social cognitive perspective on the sources and consequences of efficacy beliefs, this study examined how school support influences collective teacher efficacy which in turn affects teachers' organizational commitment. The participants included 969 teachers sampled from 28 primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. To appropriately address the nature of collective teacher efficacy and school support as school-level variables, the doubly latent multilevel structural equation modeling approach was used to analyze the data. The results revealed the mediation mechanism played by collective teacher efficacy in explaining the effect of school support on teachers' organizational commitment. Schools are suggested to consider fostering a supportive school environment as a strategy to improve teachers' collective efficacy beliefs if it is wished to enhance teachers' commitment to schools.

Peer Effects in Education: Theoretical Synthesis of Frame Factor Theory and Opportunity to Learn using TIMSS 2011

Despite a vast literature, previous research into compositional effects and peer effects in education has remarked on the lack of consensus within the field. To date, peer effects in education and students’ different opportunities to learn in school has been studied separately. In this study, it is argued that these perspectives need to be synthesized. A multilevel structural equation model (M-SEM) is derived from such a synthesis of the Frame Factor Theory (FFT) and Opportunity to Learn (OTL) and tested on Swedish TIMSS 2011-data (n=3928). The results indicate that class composition affects the presence of limitations on instruction and advanced content coverage, both of which is related to opportunities to learn and individual students’ achievement in mathematics.

Load reduction instruction in mathematics and English classrooms: A multilevel study of student and teacher reports

Load reduction instruction (LRI) is a practical instructional framework aimed at managing the cognitive demands experienced by students as they learn. LRI comprises five key instructional principles: (1) difficulty reduction during initial learning, as appropriate to students’ prior learning, (2) support and scaffolding, (3) structured practice, (4) feedback-feedforward, and (5) guided independent application. The present investigation explored student- and teacher-reports of LRI in both mathematics and English. The Load Reduction Instruction Scale – Short was administered to 1773 students and their teachers in 93 mathematics classrooms and 94 English classrooms. Multilevel (Level 1 student; Level 2 classroom) confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA) supported a Level 1 student LRI factor and a Level 2 class-average LRI factor in each of mathematics and English. However, two LRI factors emerged for teachers in each of mathematics and English: one factor related to Principle 1 (difficulty reduction) and one factor related to Principles 2–5 (scaffolding to autonomy). Follow-up multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) revealed that teachers adjusted their application of LRI Principle 1 (but not Principles 2–5) as a function of class-average prior learning (lower prior learning was associated with greater application of Principle 1). MCFA also showed that correlations between student- and teacher-reported LRI were low. Follow-up MSEM revealed that student- and teacher-reports of LRI uniquely predicted students’ effort and achievement—suggesting that students and teachers provide distinct insights into instruction (hence the low correlation between them) and highlighting the important role of both informants in capturing a comprehensive perspective on instruction in the classroom.

A three-dimensional taxonomy of achievement emotions.

We present a three-dimensional taxonomy of achievement emotions that considers valence, arousal, and object focus as core features of these emotions. By distinguishing between positive and negative emotions (valence), activating and deactivating emotions (arousal), and activity emotions, prospective outcome emotions, and retrospective outcome emotions (object focus), the taxonomy has a 2 × 2 × 3 structure representing 12 groups of achievement emotions. In four studies across different countries (N = 330, 235, 323, and 269 participants in Canada, the United States, Germany, and the U.K., respectively), we investigated the empirical robustness of the taxonomy in educational (Studies 1-3) and work settings (Study 4). An expanded version of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire was used to assess 12 key emotions representing the taxonomy. Consistently across the four studies, findings from multilevel facet analysis and structural equation modeling documented the importance of the three dimensions for explaining achievement emotions. In addition, based on hypotheses about relations with external variables, the findings show clear links of the emotions with important antecedents and outcomes. The Big Five personality traits, appraisals of control and value, and context perceptions were predictors of the emotions. The 12 emotions, in turn, were related to participants' use of strategies, cognitive performance, and self-reported health problems. Taken together, the findings provide robust evidence for the unique positions of different achievement emotions in the proposed taxonomy, as well as unique patterns of relations with external variables. Directions for future research and implications for policy and practice are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

"Same same" but different? Exploring the impact of perceived organizational support at the school and teacher levels on teachers' job engagement and organizational citizenship behavior.

All countries in the world are currently trying to implement educational reform, which increases the additional workload of teachers. It is more important to discuss how to inspire teachers' enthusiasm for educational reform from the perspective of organizational support (OS). Previous research on OS was limited to perceived organizational support (POS), but in recent years group-level OS has been considered the most promising. There is no study comparing POS and group-level OS in education, and therefore this study explored the relationships between OS, job engagement (JE) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in an educational context. In particular, OS was examined at the individual-level (POS) and the aggregated group-level (school organizational support, SOS). Analysis was performed using structural equation modeling (SEM) at both single and multiple levels. SEM results showed direct and positive relationships of individual-level POS with both JE and OCB. Moreover, JE is directly and positively related to OCB and plays the partial mediating role of the indirect and positive impact of POS on OCB. Multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) analysis revealed direct and positive relationships of SOS with teachers' JE, which was directly and positively related to their OCB. While SOS had no significant positive relationship with OCB, it did have a positive impact on OCB through the mediation of JE. Comparison between SEM and MSEM results revealed the change in effect of OS on OCB from significant to insignificant, thus implying full mediation effect of JE when SOS is considered.

Teacher-child racial congruence and young children's preschool adjustment

The purpose of this study was to explore how adjusted preschoolers were to preschool when their teachers were either racially congruent or racially incongruent and whether gender and moderated these associations. In this study, 259 preschoolers (50% boys; Mage = 53.84 months; 63% White, 37% Black) in 44 classrooms at 16 federally- and privately-funded centers/preschools were rated for their adjustment to preschool using teacher (N = 44; 100% women, 52% White, 38% Black, 2% Asian, 5% American Indian/Alaskan Native, 2% Latine) reports and direct child assessments. Multi-level structural equation modeling was used to simultaneously address the non-independence of the data by estimating higher-level variance components (i.e., variance on a total of six preschool adjustment outcomes out due to the classroom and due to the center) as well as correlated outcomes. Accounting for classroom-level variance as well as school-, classroom-, and child-level covariates, these analyses revealed main effects for gender and teacher-child racial congruence, and not for race, but higher-order interactions were significant. White girls with White teachers scored higher than White girls with Black teachers on four outcomes. Black girls with Black teachers scored higher than Black girls with White teachers on three outcomes and lower on two outcomes. White boys with White teachers scored lower than White boys with Black teachers on three outcomes. Black boys with Black teachers scored lower than Black boys with White teachers on five outcomes and higher on one outcome. Magnitudes of associations found ranged from small to large across the analyses. These findings add to the growing literature concerning teacher racial congruence suggesting its association with preschool adjustment may be moderated by race and gender of the child. More research is needed to understand the mechanisms accounting for these associations.

A Matter of Health? A 24-Week Daily and Weekly Diary Study on Workplace Bullying Perpetrators' Psychological and Physical Health.

Workplace bullying (WB) studies focusing on perpetrators are increasing. Many processes, events, circumstances and individual states are being studied to understand and inhibit what causes some employees to become perpetrators. Using a 24-week diary design and drawing on the Conservation of Resources Theory, we investigated how sleep, physical activity (PA), and being bullied predicted perpetration on a within-level. On a between-level, we controlled for a supervisory position, psychological distress and mental illnesses over 38 employees from Spain and Turkey. Their average age was 38.84 years (SD = 11.75). They were from diverse sectors (15.8% in manufacturing, 15.8% in education, 13.2% in wholesale and retail trade, 13.2% in information and communication, 7.9% in health, 7.9% in other services and 26.3% from other sectors) with diverse professions such as finance manager, psychologist, graphic designer, academic, human resources professional, forensic doctor, IT and Administration head, municipality admin executive, waiter, and sales executives. Data collection was conducted over 24 consecutive work weeks, where only 31 participants were involved in perpetration (final observations = 720). We analyzed the data using multilevel structural equation modeling decomposed into within-and-between-person variance parts. The results indicated that on a within-level, PA as steps taken during the work week and being bullied positively predicted perpetration the same week, while sleep quality did not. By connecting sleep, physical exercise and WB literature, we draw attention to the health condition of perpetrators. Organizations should actively inhibit workplace bullying and be mindful of employees' physical activities at work or commuting to work. Managers should also be attentive to physical fatigue that employees may feel due to their responsibilities in their private lives and allow employees to rest and recuperate to inhibit negative behaviors at work.

Mediating and moderating effects of task interdependence and creative role identity behind innovation for service: evidence from China and Australia

PurposeInnovation for service contributes to service quality and customer satisfaction, and further benefits service-centered organizations to sustain competitive advantages. However, concurrent mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying innovation for service at both the group and individual levels have been scarcely investigated. The purpose of this study is to explore multilevel mediating and moderating mechanisms behind the relationship between dual-level transformational leadership (TFL) and innovation for service at the group and individual levels.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from two countries (i.e. China and Australia). Multilevel structural equation modeling was employed to validate the research model. Bootstrapping with 5,000 replications and latent moderated structural equation modeling were used to respectively examine the mediating and moderating mechanisms.FindingsThe cross-national results showed that task interdependence and creative role identity respectively played as the group-level and individual-level mediating roles between TFL and innovation for service. It was also found that task interdependence played as a cross-level predictor enhancing individual innovation for service. Task interdependence was a moderator on the relationship between individual-level TFL and creative role identity among Australian employees, but not among Chinese employees. The relationship between creative role identity and individual innovation for service was not moderated by task interdependence among both Chinese and Australian employees.Originality/valueThis study contributes to advancing the TFL–innovation research through revealing dual-level TFL as the antecedent of innovation for service at both the group and individual levels. It also extends the understandings of the mediating and moderating mechanisms behind this dual-level relationship between TFL and innovation for service.

Leader instigated task conflict and its effects on employee job crafting; the mediating role of employee attributions.

The role of leaders in conflict management remains the favorite area of researchers. This study aims to introduce a unique role of leaders in conflict named as leader instigated task conflict. We proposed that leader instigated task conflict promotes job crafting behaviors of employees by considering attributions regarding leader instigated conflict as mechanism for this relationship. Data were collected from 247 employees working in teams in marketing departments of different organizations across Pakistan. Data analyses was conducted through multilevel structural equation modeling. Findings revealed that leader instigated task conflict is positively related to promotion-focused job crafting and negatively related to prevention-focused job crafting via the mediating role of constructive conflict instigation attribution and destructive conflict instigation attribution respectively. The current study contributes to the literature on conflict by suggesting that leaders can be a source of task based conflict to achieve its positive outcomes. However, employee attributions play a vital role in achieving the positive outcomes of leader instigated task conflict, hence leaders must be careful about shaping constructive attributions of followers regarding their conflict instigation behavior in order to promote constructive behavioral responses of employees.

FEELING YOUNG TODAY, FEELING GOOD TOMORROW? MICROLONGITUDINAL DYNAMICS IN SUBJECTIVE AGE

Abstract Insights into the short-term dynamics and micro-longitudinal consequences of subjective age can drive our understanding of its long-term mechanisms across adulthood. Using data from 80 newly retired individuals (aged 59 to 76 years; 59% women) collected on 21 days, we made use of a recent methodological advance—multilevel dynamic structural equation modeling. As possible same-day correlates and micro-longitudinal consequences of subjective age, we investigated physical activity, step number, sleep quality, affect, and stress, which were either assessed via wearables (FitBit Charge HR) or daily diaries. Analyses suggest a weak autoregression of subjective age, indicating that how old one feels is determined via daily rather than lasting experiences. Indeed, there were significant same-day relations to all suggested correlates. The one effect lasting across several days was from an older subjective age on subsequent negative affect—a potential short-term mechanism contributing to the detrimental long-term influence of an older subjective age.

Unpacking the rural-urban gap of teacher involvement in inquiry-based working: the roles of school research culture and infrastructure

ABSTRACT This study was conducted to further explore the possible mechanism behind the finding that rural teachers are disadvantaged for participation in inquiry-based working compared to their urban counterparts. School organisation factors are the most obvious mediating variables since they can be easily connected with wider school regional features and with the behaviour of teachers. The contributions of two organisational factors, school research culture and school research infrastructure were studied. A multilevel structural equation model was developed based on data collected from 5566 Chinese teachers working in 114 primary schools. The results reveal the disparity in teacher-perceived school research culture and infrastructure between rural teachers and urban teachers. Perceived school research culture is positively related to teacher involvement in inquiry-based working, and mediates the rural-urban gap of teacher involvement in inquiry-based working at the between-level. The implications of these results and the theoretical, methodological, and practical contributions of this study are discussed.

Mirror, mirror, on the social media … WeChat Moments usage and negative body image among female college students: Evidence from ecological momentary assessment data.

Negative body image is prevalent among women and may lead to physical and mental health problems. Social media-including China's most popular platform, WeChat Moments-aggregates multiple aspects of appearance-related pressure and therefore is an important risk factor for negative body image. The current study examines the relationship between WeChat Moments usage and body image among female college students and the mediating mechanism of body surveillance. A sample of 151 female college students completed a 7-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA), responded to three surveys per day, and provided a total of 2949 EMA responses. We used multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) to examine the hypothesized models at both the between- and within-individual levels. The results showed that both overall WeChat Moments usage and appearance-related exposure on WeChat Moments were inversely and indirectly related to body image through the mediating role of body surveillance at the between-individual level. However, both overall WeChat Moments usage and appearance-related exposure on WeChat Moments were positively and indirectly related to body image through body surveillance at the within-individual level. Our findings indicate that WeChat Moments usage is associated with college women's body image differently at the between- and within-individual level, and body surveillance serves as a crucial underlying mechanism.

Disentangling motivation and engagement: Exploring the role of effort in promoting greater conceptual and methodological clarity.

Conflation over motivation and engagement has historically impeded research and practice. One reason for this is because definition and measurement have often been too general or diffuse-especially in the case of engagement. Recently conceptual advances aimed at disentangling facets of engagement and motivation have highlighted a need for better psychometric precision-particularly in the case of engagement. To the extent that engagement is inadequately assessed, motivation research involving engagement continues to be hampered. The present study investigates multidimensional effort (a specific facet of engagement) and how it relates to motivation. In particular, we examine the associations between specific positive and negative motivation factors and dimensions of effort, thereby shedding further insight into how different types of motivation interplay with different types of engagement. Drawing on data from a sample of 946 Australian high school students in 59 mathematics classrooms at five schools, this study hypothesized a tripartite model of academic effort in terms of operative, cognitive, and social-emotional dimensions. A novel nine-item self-report Effort Scale measuring each of the three factors was developed and tested for internal and external validity-including its relationship with multidimensional motivation. Multilevel confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to test the factor structure and validity of multidimensional effort. Additionally, doubly-latent multilevel structural equation models were conducted to explore the hypothesized motivation → engagement (effort) process, and the role of student- and classroom-level background attributes as predictors of both motivation and effort. Results supported the hypothesized model of tripartite effort and its distinctiveness from motivation, and showed that key dimensions of motivation predicted effort at student- and classroom-levels. This study provides implications and suggestions for future motivation research and theorizing by (1) establishing evidence for the validity of a novel engagement framework (multidimensional effort), and (2) supporting future measurement and practice in academic engagement juxtaposed with multidimensional motivation-critical for better understanding engagement, and motivation itself.

Patient-therapist expectancy convergence and outcome in naturalistic psychotherapy.

Research on close relationships demonstrates that dyadic convergence, or two people becoming more similar in their experiences and/or beliefs over time, is commonplace and adaptive. As psychotherapy involves a close relationship, patient-therapist convergence processes may influence treatment-specific outcomes. Although prior research supports that patients and therapists tend to converge on their alliance perspectives over time, which associates with subsequent patient improvement, no research has similarly examined belief convergence during therapy. Accordingly, this study focused on patient-therapist convergence in their outcome expectations (OE), a belief variable associated with patient improvement when measured from individual participant perspectives. We predicted both that significant OE convergence would occur and relate to better posttreatment outcome. Data derived from a trial of naturalistic psychotherapy. Patients and therapists repeatedly rated their respective OE through treatment, and patients rated their symptom/functional outcomes at posttreatment. For dyads with the requisite OE data (N = 154), we tested our questions using multilevel structural equation modeling. Counter to our hypotheses, there was no discernable OE convergence pattern over treatment (γ₁₀₀ = 0.01, SE = 0.03, p = .690) and OE convergence was unrelated to outcome at the between-dyad level (γ₀₂₀ = 2.37, SE = 10.28, p = .818). However, on its own, higher early patient OE was significantly associated with better outcome at the between-dyad level (γ₀₅₀ = -0.04, SE = 0.01, p = .007). Results suggest that OE may be more of a facilitative patient versus relational process factor. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Good night-good day? Bidirectional links of daily sleep quality with negative affect and stress reactivity in old age.

Bidirectional links between sleep quality and emotional experiences are complex and not yet well understood-especially in old age when substantial changes occur in sleep and emotional experiences. Because previous research rarely considered the role of stressors, we examine if older adults' sleep quality is directly associated with subsequent negative affect (NA) or more indirectly via affective reactivity to stressors. Specifically, we investigate whether and how older adults' sleep quality predicts negative affect and affective reactivity to stress on the following day, and vice versa. For seven consecutive days, 325 older adults (61-90 years, 49% women) reported their sleep quality each morning as well as momentary negative affect and stressful events multiple times a day. Results from multilevel structural equation models showed that after nights of lower sleep quality, older adults reported more negative affect, but not higher affective reactivity to stressors. In turn, after days with increased affective reactivity but not more negative affect, participants reported worse sleep quality. We discuss whether older adults are able to regulate the effects of low sleep quality, but have difficulties downregulating stress and its effects on sleep. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Task-Enabling CEOs: Implications for an Effective Implementation of New Technology

This article addresses the question of the conditions under which chief executive officer (CEO) leadership may enhance the effectiveness of new technological implementation (NTI) and the mechanisms by which they may do so. Using a structured questionnaire collected from multiple source informants in 89 small- and medium-sized firms (89 CEOs, 65 implementation managers, and 305 employees), we consider a specific leadership style, labeled task-enabling leadership, and examine how task-enabling CEOs can facilitate the NTI process. The findings of multilevel structural equation modeling analysis indicate that CEO task-enabling leadership creates socio-psychological conditions of safety and availability which in turn enhance NTI effectiveness, and that this indirect effect of task-enabling leadership on NTI effectiveness, via socio-psychological conditions, is significant when the implemented technology is radical.

A dual-pathway model for examining the effects of customer mistreatment on an employee's customer-directed counterproductive work behavior: can job autonomy make a difference?

PurposeThis research examined how customer mistreatment activates individual customer-directed counterproductive work behavior (CWBC) by investigating the mediating roles of negative work reflection and negative affect. It also explored whether job autonomy buffers the negative impact of customer mistreatment on CWBC.Design/methodology/approachThe authors tested their predictions using an experience-sample method with a sample of data from 79 service workers across eight days. A multilevel structural equation model was used to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe authors found that negative work reflection and negative affect mediated the association between customer mistreatment and CWBC. In addition, job autonomy moderated the indirect impact of daily customer mistreatment on employees' CWBC through negative work reflection and negative affect.Research limitations/implicationsThere are some concerns about a common method because all of the study variables were self-reported. Moreover, the study sample consisted of participants recruited exclusively from China, thus limiting this research's generality.Practical implicationsTo eliminate the detrimental impact of customer mistreatment, supervisors can strive to improve the autonomy of those who interact with customers frequently to reduce their CWBC.Originality/valueThis study offers an integrative view to explain why service workers engage in CWBC when suffering customer mistreatment by testing the mediating mechanisms of negative reflection and negative affect in the association between daily customer mistreatment and CWBC. Second, the authors have broadened the study of customer mistreatment by introducing job autonomy as a critical condition, eliminating the indirect association between customer mistreatment and CWBC.

A multilevel perspective on self-determination theory: Predictors and correlates of autonomous and controlled motivation

Based on self-determination theory (SDT), we examined mediational models connecting autonomy support and self-criticism to negative affect (NA), positive affect (PA), and goal progress (GP) via autonomous and controlled motivation. Separate measures were obtained within eight domains (e.g., academic performance and intimate relationships) for 346 university students. Multilevel structural equation modeling was used to test whether, both between-persons and within-person, autonomy support and self-criticism predicted autonomous and controlled motivation, which in turn predicted NA, PA, and GP. In addition to several between-persons indirect effects, we found numerous significant within-person indirect effects, including: (1) in domains where they experienced greater autonomy support, people experienced greater PA and greater GP, mediated by greater autonomous motivation and (2) in domains where they experienced greater self-criticism, people experienced more NA mediated by greater controlled motivation, and less PA mediated by greater controlled motivation and lesser autonomous motivation. These results support systematically adopting a multilevel perspective in SDT research.

Croon’s Bias-corrected Estimation for Multilevel Structural Equation Models with Latent Interactions

Consideration of moderation effects is important in a range of substantive applications that include nested data and latent variables. A critical limitation in multilevel structural equation models with computationally demanding latent interactions is the poor performance (e.g., convergence failure and biased estimates) of common estimators such as maximum likelihood. To address this issue, we developed extensions to Croon’s bias-corrected estimation for multilevel structural equation models with latent interactions. After detailing these new corrections, we conducted several simulation studies to probe the accuracy and efficiency of the estimator. It produced accurate coefficient estimates with a variety of latent interactions while avoiding major convergence failure issues even when sample sizes were limited. The availability of Croon’s estimation for two-level structural equation models with latent interactions provides researchers a viable alternative estimator even when sample sizes are limited.

The substantiveness of socioeconomic school compositional effects in Australia: measurement error and the relationship with academic composition

This study examines the effect of school socioeconomic composition on student achievement growth in Australian schooling, and its relationship with academic composition utilising the National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) dataset. Previous research has found that school composition predicts a range of schooling outcomes. A critique of school compositional research has been that measurement error may have biased findings of compositional effects. Prior studies have found that socioeconomic compositional effect sizes are small when models include academic composition. The relationship between socioeconomic and academic compositions has yet to be fully determined. Multi-level regressions and structural equation models were compared to estimate the degree of bias in socioeconomic compositional effects due to measurement error. Multi-level path models were used to test if academic composition mediated the relationship between socioeconomic composition and achievement growth. The results showed that measurement error did not bias compositional effects in the dataset, and academic composition mediates the relationship between socioeconomic composition and achievement growth. We argue that school value-add research should include academic composition to account for contextual effects. The socioeconomic compositional effect is of practical significance to policy makers and educational researchers due to its relative size compared to average student achievement growth. Potential reforms include ensuring public subsidies to private schools in Australia do not increase school segregation and the amelioration of the effects of residential segregation through school funding reforms.