Performance-related Behaviors Research Articles

An experimental test of the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect using an immersive virtual reality classroom

Academic self-concept plays a central role in successful learning and is substantially shaped by social comparisons. Research on the so-called Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect (BFLPE) has yielded a highly robust and generalizable pattern of negative effects of higher class/school average achievement on students’ self-concept when controlling for individual achievement. However, most BFLPE studies have not provided information about the causes behind or the mechanisms underlying the proposed effects. To address this, we used a fully immersive virtual reality (IVR) classroom to experimentally test the extent to which students recognized performance-related classroom behavior as implicit social comparison information and how these perceptions explained differences in students’ self-concepts. Participants (N = 381 sixth-grade students) experienced an authentic yet standardized IVR teaching situation with virtual classmates who exhibited different performance levels (operationalized as 20% vs. 35% vs. 65% vs. 80% of classmates raising their hands). Hand-raising behavior had a significant positive effect on students’ perceptions of the class’ performance level (d20% vs. 65% = 0.60; d20% vs. 80% = 1.24). In line with the BFLPE, results showed a negative effect of higher performing classmates on students’ situational self-concept (d20% vs. 80% = 0.30). Students’ perceptions of the class’ performance level fully explained the effect of classmates’ hand-raising behavior on students’ situational self-concept. The study’s experimental approach provided new insights into the emergence of social comparison effects in the classroom, highlighting the major role of students’ perceptions of their classmates’ performance-related behavior, and moreover demonstrated the general potential of using IVR in classroom research.

Determining the Relationship between Green Human Resource Management, Environmental Awareness and Green Behaviors: The Moderating Role of Servant Leadership

The main goal of the current research was to determine the relationship between green human resource management and green behaviors of employees with the mediating role of environmental awareness and the moderating role of servant leadership. In terms of the nature of the research, this research is in the category of descriptive-correlational research and in terms of the purpose of the research, it is in the category of applied research. The statistical population of the present study is all the employees of the municipality of Tehran province, the number of which is 420. Random sampling method is available; the number of statistical sample was calculated using Cochran's formula to be 201 people. In order to collect information, the questionnaire of Sabz Zaid et al.'s human resource management (2018), Sarmad et al.'s environmental awareness (2013), Shah's employees' green behavior (2023), and servant leadership by Peterson (2003) and Hazrati (2018) were used. Also, in order to analyze the data, structural equation modeling method was used with Lisrel v8.8 software. The results of the path coefficient showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between green human resource management and task-related behaviors and environmentalist performance-related behaviors. Also, environmental awareness does not mediate the effect of green human resource management on the behaviors related to the duty of environmentalists, but it mediates the behaviors related to the performance of environmentalists. According to the results of servant leadership, it does not moderate the effect of green human resource management on task-related behaviors and performance of environmentalists. But the results showed that servant leadership moderates the effect of green human resource management on environmental awareness. According to the results, it is suggested that policymakers introduce laws and regulations to support and encourage green projects, including impact evaluation and waste management systems in municipalities.

Learning with simulated virtual classmates: Effects of social-related configurations on students’ visual attention and learning experiences in an immersive virtual reality classroom

Immersive virtual reality (IVR) provides great potential to experimentally investigate effects of peers on student learning in class and to strategically deploy virtual peer learners to improve learning. The present study examined how three social-related classroom configurations (i.e., students' position in the classroom, visualization style of virtual avatars, and virtual classmates' performance-related behavior) affect students' visual attention toward information presented in the IVR classroom using a large-scale eye-tracking data set of N = 274 sixth graders. ANOVA results showed that the IVR configurations were systematically associated with differences in learners' visual attention on classmates or the instructional content and their overall gaze distribution in the IVR classroom (Cohen's d ranging from 0.28 to 2.04 for different IVR configurations and gaze features). Gaze-based attention on classmates was negatively related to students' interest in the IVR lesson (d = 0.28); specifically, the more boys were among the observed peers, the lower students' situational self-concept (d = 0.24). In turn, gaze-based attention on the instructional content was positively related to students' performance after the IVR lesson (d = 0.26). Implications for the future use of IVR classrooms in educational research and practice are discussed.

Treating perfectionism using internet-based cognitive behavior therapy: A study protocol for a randomized controlled trial comparing two types of treatment

Perfectionism is characterized by setting high standards and striving for achievement, sometimes at the expense of social relationships and wellbeing. Despite sometimes being viewed as a positive feature by others, people with perfectionism tend to be overly concerned about their performance and how they are being perceived by people around them. This tends to create inflexible standards, cognitive biases, and performance-related behaviors that maintain a belief that self-worth is linked to accomplishments. Cognitive behavior therapy has been shown to be a viable treatment for perfectionism, both in terms of reducing levels of perfectionism and improving psychiatric symptoms. Furthermore, a number of recent studies indicate that it can be successfully delivered via the Internet, both with regular support and guidance on demand from a therapist. In the present study protocol, a clinical trial for perfectionism is described and outlined. In total, 128 participants will be recruited and randomized to either a treatment that has already been demonstrated to have many benefits, Internet-based Cognitive Behavior Therapy for perfectionism (iCBT-P), or an active comparison condition, Internet-based Unified Protocol (iUP), targeting the emotions underlying depression and anxiety disorders. The results will be investigated with regard to self-reported outcomes of perfectionism, psychiatric symptoms, self-compassion, and quality of life, at post-treatment and at six- and 12-month follow-up. Both iCBT-P and iUP are expected to have a positive impact, but the difference between the two conditions in terms of their specific effects and adherence are currently unknown and will be explored. The clinical trial is believed to lead to a better understanding of how perfectionism can be treated and the specificity of different treatments.

When Rewards Create Obsessions with the Bottom-Line, Nobody Wins

Drawing on the central tenets of social interdependence theory and recent work on bottom-line mentalities, we examine bottom-line mentality as a mediator of the negative relationships between negatively interdependent rewards and task performance and organizational citizenship behavior. We suggest that negatively interdependent rewards are related to a tunnel vision focus on bottom-line attainment, which in turn, influences employees to neglect aspects of their in-role and extra-role job performance. We also draw on social interdependence theory to examine the moderating role of proactive personality, suggesting that in comparison to employees who are low on proactive personality, those high on the trait are less likely to allow the tunnel vision effect of negatively interdependent rewards and subsequent BLM to influence decreases in their performance-related behaviors. We tested our hypotheses across three studies: an experimental study, a diverse, multisource, time-lagged field study, and a multisource, field study from a single organization. Our results suggest that bottom-line mentality mediates the negative relationships between negatively interdependent rewards and task performance and organizational citizenship behavior and that proactive personality mitigates the effect on citizenship behavior but not task performance.

Modeling Emerging Memory-Divergent GPU Applications

Analytical performance models yield valuable architectural insight without incurring the excessive runtime overheads of simulation. In this work, we study contemporary GPU applications and find that the key performance-related behavior of such applications is distinct from traditional GPU applications. The key issue is that these GPU applications are memory-intensive and have poor spatial locality, which implies that the loads of different threads commonly access different cache blocks. Such memory-divergent applications quickly exhaust the number of misses the L1 cache can process concurrently, and thereby cripple the GPU's ability to use Memory-Level Parallelism (MLP) and Thread-Level Parallelism (TLP) to hide memory latencies. Our Memory Divergence Model (MDM) is able to accurately represent this behavior and thereby reduces average performance prediction error by 14× compared to the state-of-the-art GPUMech approach across our memory-divergent applications.

Athlete Self-Report Measure Use and Associated Psychological Alterations.

The experience of athletes and practitioners has led to the suggestion that use of an athlete self-report measure (ASRM) may increase an athlete’s self-awareness, satisfaction, motivation, and confidence. This study sought to provide empirical evidence for this assertion by evaluating psychological alterations associated with ASRM use across a diverse athlete population. Athletes (n = 335) had access to an ASRM for 16 weeks and completed an online survey at baseline, and weeks 4, 8, and 16. Generalized estimating equations were used to evaluate the associations between ASRM compliance and outcome measures. Compared to baseline, confidence and extrinsic motivation were most likely increased at weeks 4, 8, and 16. Satisfaction and intrinsic motivation were most likely decreased at week 4, but no different to baseline values at weeks 8 and 16. Novice athletes and those who were instructed to use an ASRM (rather than using one autonomously) were less responsive to ASRM use. This study provides preliminary evidence for ASRM to prompt initial dissatisfaction and decreased intrinsic motivation which, along with increased confidence and extrinsic motivation, may provide the necessary stimulus to improve performance-related behaviors. Novice and less autonomous athletes may benefit from support to develop motivation, knowledge, and skills to use the information gleaned from an ASRM effectively.

Investigating the incremental validity of employee engagement in the prediction of employee effectiveness: A meta-analytic path analysis

The current study used meta-analytic estimates and path analysis to examine whether the construct of employee engagement (EE) shows incremental validity in the prediction of employee effectiveness (a broad measure of performance-related behaviors) over other job attitudes such as job satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational commitment. Meta-analytic estimates between EE and various employee effectiveness indicators were computed from 49 published correlations representing a total of 22,090 individuals. We combined these estimates with published meta-analytic estimates between employee effectiveness and job attitudes to produce a meta-matrix representing 1,161 unique correlations. Using this meta-matrix, a series of path model comparisons produced two results: (1) EE bears low to moderate incremental validity over individual job attitudes (R2 change of 0.02 to 0.06), and (2) EE bears low incremental validity over a higher-order job attitude construct representing the combination of other job attitudes in the prediction of a higher-order employee effectiveness construct (R2 change of 0.01). Given the brevity of popular EE measures, the results suggest EE is better conceptualized as a higher-order measure of job attitudes that is an effective and concise predictor of employee effectiveness.

Does Context Matter for the Type of Performance-Related Behavior of Public Service Motivated Employees?

Empirical studies have found a positive relationship between public service motivation (PSM) and individual performance. However, it is unclear what public service motivated employees are doing in terms of behavior that makes them perform. Moreover, it is uncertain whether PSM inspires similar behaviors among employees in different contexts. Conceptualizing performance as a multidimensional construct, this study investigates the relationship between PSM and self-reported output, service outcome, responsiveness, and democratic outcome behaviors. Using structural equation modeling on survey data from 459 employees in people-changing (service production, aimed at changing the user) and 461 employees in people-processing (service regulation, categorizing, and processing users) organizations, the results show that PSM is related to all performance-related behaviors in the people-changing group, but neither to output nor responsiveness in the people-processing group. PSM’s relationship to behavior may thus differ between contexts.

Impacts of water content on rheological properties and performance-related behaviors of foamed warm-mix asphalt

It has been shown from existing studies that foamed Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA) can effectively improve the workability of asphalt mixtures at relatively low temperature. However, there is limited research into the influence of the amount of water used to foam WMA on the rheological properties and performance-related characteristics of the foamed asphalt. In this study, different amount of water was used to foam non-modified and styrene–butadiene–styrene triblock copolymer (SBS) modified bitumen to create foamed bitumen specimens. They were subsequently tested for high temperature performance, low temperature performance, temperature sensitivity, and fatigue resistance properties. Test results indicate that water content in the foamed asphalt has significant impacts on its various properties and there is an interactive effect between asphalt type and water content. In general, it appears that better results can be achieved if one per cent of water is used to foam the unmodified asphalt, and three per cent of water is used to foam the modified asphalt. The findings may assist controlling experimental variations and improving foamed WMA production.

A genetic dissection of breed composition and performance enhancement in the Alaskan sled dog

BackgroundThe Alaskan sled dog offers a rare opportunity to investigate the development of a dog breed based solely on performance, rather than appearance, thus setting the breed apart from most others. Several established breeds, many of which are recognized by the American Kennel Club (AKC), have been introduced into the sled dog population to enhance racing performance. We have used molecular methods to ascertain the constitutive breeds used to develop successful sled dog lines, and in doing so, determined the breed origins of specific performance-related behaviors.One hundred and ninety-nine Alaskan sled dogs were genotyped using 96 microsatellite markers that span the canine genome. These data were compared to that from 141 similarly genotyped purebred dog breeds. Sled dogs were evaluated for breed composition based on a variety of performance phenotypes including speed, endurance and work ethic, and the data stratified based on population structure.ResultsWe observe that the Alaskan sled dog has a unique molecular signature and that the genetic profile is sufficient for identifying dogs bred for sprint versus distance. When evaluating contributions of existing breeds we find that the Alaskan Malamute and Siberian Husky contributions are associated with enhanced endurance; Pointer and Saluki are associated with enhanced speed and the Anatolian Shepherd demonstrates a positive influence on work ethic.ConclusionWe have established a genetic breed profile for the Alaskan sled dog, identified profile variance between sprint and distance dogs, and established breeds associated with enhanced performance attributes. These data set the stage for mapping studies aimed at finding genes that are associated with athletic attributes integral to the high performing Alaskan sled dog.

Work characteristics, challenge appraisal, creativity, and proactive behavior: A multi‐level study

AbstractWork characteristics such as time pressure and job control can be experienced as a challenge that is positively associated with performance‐related behaviors. Using experience‐sampling data from 149 employees, we examined the relationships between these work characteristics and creativity and proactive behavior on a daily level. Results from multilevel analyses indicate that time pressure and job control are perceived as challenging, and that challenge appraisal in turn is related to daily creativity and proactive behavior. Furthermore, cross‐level mediation analyses revealed that daily work characteristics act as the mechanism underlying the relationships between chronic work characteristics and challenge appraisal. This study supports the view of time pressure as a challenge‐related stressor that leads to favorable outcomes. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Employee performance in the knowledge economy: Capturing the keys to success

The present study examines the key determinants of employee performance in a knowledge-intensive service firm located in the UK. Using data from a pilot study, we mapped eight performance-related behaviors to two measures of global performance to isolate the strongest predictors of the latter. We also examined the degree to which these associations varied depending on whether employees or their managers reported on performance as well as according to the degree of complexity (eg, ongoing learning, multitasking, problem solving, etc.) present in workers' jobs. Findings revealed that more traditional employee performance-related behaviors (eg, dependability) as well as behaviors that have likely increased in importance in the knowledge economy (eg, sharing ideas and information) accounted for the most variance in reported global performance. Sharing ideas and information was a particularly important predictor for workers in complex jobs. When the performance-related behaviors were regressed on the organization's annual employee appraisal ratings, only dependability and time management behaviors were significantly associated with the outcome. As organizational success increasingly is dependent on intangible inputs stemming from the ideas, innovations and creativity of its workforce, organizations need to ensure that they are capturing the full range of behaviors that help to define their success. Further research with a diverse range of organizations will help define this further.

Matching Commitment to Supervisors and Organizations to In-Role and Extra-Role Performance

There are mixed findings regarding the relations between affective and continuance commitment and job performance. However, past research has largely disregarded the concept of commitment foci and overlooked the importance of matching commitment foci to the target of performance-related behavior. In this study, supervisors rated 189 employees on 2 types of performance hypothesized to be directed more toward supervisors than organizations: in-role performance and courtesy. They also rated 2 types hypothesized to be directed more toward organizations than supervisors: civic virtue and loyal boosterism. After controlling for other forms of commitment, affective commitment to supervisors explained unique variance in in-role performance and courtesy. Affective commitment to organizations did not. After controlling for other forms of commitment, affective commitment to organizations explained unique variance in loyal boosterism. Affective commitment to supervisors did not. Continuance commitment to supervisors and organizations was unrelated to performance. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Inferences about causes and consequences of behavior of leaders and subordinates

This study addresses spontaneous inferences about causes and consequences of performance-related behavior of leaders and subordinates. Respondents (leaders and subordinates) completed sentences describing the behavior of leaders or subordinates. It was expected that behavior of leaders induces more causal analysis because it can more strongly affect others. This hypothesis was confirmed, suggesting that position labels can trigger control motivation. It was also found that leader behavior induced more inferences about the consequences for the environment than for the actor, supporting the assumption that leaders are seen as persons who affect their environment. In addition, the data indicate that subordinate respondents made more inferences about causes as well as consequences than leaders did, and have a more positive view of others. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Board Characteristics, Managerial Controls and Corporate Strategy: A Study of U.S. Hospitals

This study examined the relationships among board characteristics, emphasis on managerial controls, and corporate strategy. Results suggest that certain board characteristics that decrease board members’ access to information about CEO performance-related behavior, e.g., infrequent CEO-board meetings and lack of a strategic planning committee, are likely to increase the emphasis on out come based controls. Results also indicate that an emphasis on out come based controls is likely to lead to more risk averse strategic decisions on the part of the CEO, specifically with respect to capital investment.

Board characteristics, managerial controls and corporate strategy: A study of U.S. hospitals

This study examined the relationships among board characteristics, emphasis on managerial controls, and corporate strategy. Results suggest that certain board characteristics that decrease board members' access to information about CEO performance-related behavior, e.g., infrequent CEO-board meetings and lack of a strategic planning committee, are likely to increase the emphasis on outcome-based controls. Results also indicate that an emphasis on outcome-based controls is likely to lead to more risk averse strategic decisions on the part of the CEO, specifically with respect to capital investment.

Diagnosing Organizations: Methods, Models, and Processes.

Diagnosis - Approaches and Methods Using the Open System Model Assessing Performance-Related Behavior and the Quality of Work Life Examining System Fits and Power Relations within Divisions and Organizations Diagnosing Environmental Relationships Challenges and Dilemmas of Diagnosis