The focus of this study is the impact of fertility problems on couples as a unit. The meaning of fertility problems and how couples reported they communicated were the main areas of interest. A cross-sectional semi-structured interview study was employed. Ten couples were recruited via the Hull FVF unit and interviewed by the primary researcher. The interview transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Two super-ordinate themes emerged: Expectations of life -"What's it all about? " highlighted the lifecycle expectations people have; how when our expectations are not met one considers one's commitments and goals in life; and the impact of fertility treatment on all of these factors. Dealing with ongoing fertility problems - 'When it doesn't happen how we expect" presented the differing responses to ongoing infertility with feelings of resentment and acceptance emerging. Communication was revealed to play an important, yet complex, role in the experience of continued fertility problems. Women seemed to have a greater need for communicating, both with their partner and with others. The couples that reported effective communication were also more likely to report successfully managing any differences as well as satisfaction with their relationship. The themes were discussed in relation to previous theory and research; the stress and coping model was found to be helpful for guiding the research process, but did not seem sufficient to fully explain the depth of meaning the fertility problems had for the couples. Further research on couple communication is recommended. The main clinical implications of the study pointed to couples needing time out from treatment to process their experiences and for counselling to be offered more regularly at different points in time.

Intuitive Benutzung wird in dieser Arbeit definiert als das Ausmaß, mit dem ein Produkt mental effizient und effektiv genutzt wird, was mit einem starken metakognitiven Gefühl von Flüssigkeit einhergeht. Aktuelle Methoden verfügen nicht über eine ausreichend hohe zeitliche Anwendungseffizienz, um im Industrieprojekt 3D-GUIde effektiv zur Evaluation von Interaktionspatterns für 3D-Creation-Oriented-User-Interfaces (3D-CUIs) eingesetzt werden zu können. Diese Interaktionspatterns beschreiben strukturiert, wie 3D-CUIs als User Interfaces zur Erstellung von dreidimensionalen Inhalten gestaltet werden müssen, um intuitive Benutzung zu unterstützen. In dieser Arbeit werden daher zwei neue Evaluationsmethoden vorgeschlagen: 1) IntuiBeat-F als formative Evaluationsmethode und 2) IntuiBeat-S als summative Evaluationsmethode. Basierend auf Default-Interventionist-Theorien und bestehenden Definitionen intuitiver Benutzung werden die mentale Beanspruchung als zentrales objektives, das metakognitive Gefühl von Flüssigkeit als zentrales subjektives und die Effektivität als zentrales pragmatisches mit intuitiver Benutzung assoziiertes Merkmal identifiziert. Die Evaluation intuitiver Benutzung mithilfe von IntuiBeat-F und IntuiBeat-S ist vielversprechend, da es sich bei beiden Methoden um Inhibition basierende Rhythmuszweitaufgaben handelt und diese somit mentale Beanspruchung objektiv erfassen können. Das Potential beider Methoden wird im Hinblick auf vorherige Forschungsarbeiten zur zeitlich effizienten Evaluation von 3D-CUIs aus der Mensch-Computer-Interaktion und der Psychologie diskutiert. Aus dieser Diskussion werden empirische Forschungsfragen abgeleitet. Die erste Forschungsfrage untersucht die wissenschaftliche Güte von IntuiBeat-S. Im ersten, zweiten und dritten Experiment werden Paare von 3D-CUIs miteinander summativ verglichen (d.h. weniger vs. stärker intuitiv benutzbare User Interfaces). Dabei wird die wissenschaftliche Güte von IntuiBeat-S hinsichtlich der Hauptgütekriterien Objektivität, Reliabilität und Validität beurteilt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass IntuiBeat-S eine hohe wissenschaftliche Güte bei der summativen Evaluation besitzt. Zudem macht es bei der Anwendung von IntuiBeat-S keinen Unterschied, ob der Rhythmus über die Ferse oder den Fußballen eingeben wird, und ob als Stichproben Studierende mit höherer oder geringerer Vorerfahrung bezüglich der Nutzung von 3D-CUIs verwendet werden. Die zweite Forschungsfrage untersucht die wissenschaftliche Güte von IntuiBeat-F. Im vierten, fünften, sechsten und siebten Experiment werden 3D-CUIs einzeln formativ evaluiert (d.h. entweder ein weniger oder stärker intuitiv benutzbares User Interface). Dabei wird die wissenschaftliche Güte von IntuiBeat-F hinsichtlich der Hauptgütekriterien Gründlichkeit, Gültigkeit und Zuverlässigkeit beurteilt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass IntuiBeat-F eine hohe wissenschaftliche Güte bei der formativen Evaluation besitzt. Diese liegt bei strikter Anwendung der Methode (d.h. Berücksichtigung ausschließlich mit der Methode entdeckter Nutzungsprobleme) zwar höher, ist aber bei wenig strikter Anwendung der Methode (d.h. Berücksichtigung auch unabhängig von der Methode entdeckter Nutzungsprobleme) noch ausreichend hoch. Jedoch konnte erst die Entwicklung und Einführung einer zusätzlichen Analysesoftware im Zuge des sechsten und siebten Experiments die wissenschaftliche Güte von IntuiBeat-F hinsichtlich aller drei Hauptgütekriterien demonstrieren, da ohne deren Unterstützung IntuiBeat-F vom Evaluator nicht ausreichend gründlich angewendet wird. Die dritte Forschungsfrage untersucht, wie hoch die zeitliche Anwendungseffizienz beider Methoden als wichtiger Aspekt praktischer Güte im Vergleich zu bereits vorhandenen Evaluationsmethoden für intuitive Benutzung ist. Bezüglich der summativen Evaluation wird im zweiten Experiment eine höhere zeitliche Anwendungseffizienz von IntuiBeat-S im Vergleich zum aktuellen summativen Benchmark, der CHAI-Methode, sowohl bei der Evaluation von weniger als auch bei der von stärker intuitiv benutzbaren 3D-CUIs demonstriert. Auch bezüglich der formativen Evaluation konnten die Ergebnisse der letzten vier Experimente zeigen, dass die zeitliche Anwendungseffizienz von IntuiBeat-F im Vergleich zum aktuellen formativen Benchmark, dem Nutzertest mit retrospektivem Think-Aloud- Protokoll, sowohl bei der Evaluation von weniger als auch stärker intuitiv benutzbaren 3D-CUIs höher liegt. Dieser Unterschied bleibt bestehend, egal ob eine zusätzliche Analysesoftware vom Evaluator verwendet wird oder nicht. Als Ergebnis aller Experimente lässt sich feststellen, dass die wissenschaftliche Güte und die zeitliche Anwendungseffizienz beider Methoden zur Evaluation intuitiver Benutzung von 3D-CUIs mehr als zufriedenstellend beurteilt werden kann. Die Arbeit wird mit einer Diskussion des geleisteten Forschungsbeitrags geschlossen. Dabei werden Anregungen für künftige Forschung aus theoretischer (z.B. Berücksichtigung des Gefühls von Flüssigkeit bei der Evaluation), praktischer (z.B. Untersuchung der Anwendbarkeit beider Methoden in anderen Domänen) und methodischer (z.B. Beurteilung der praktischen Güte beider Methoden anhand anderer Kriterien) Perspektive gegeben. / In this work, intuitive use is defined as the extent to which a product can be used in a mentally efficient and effective manner, which is accompanied by a strong metacognitive feeling of fluency. Currently available methods to measure intuitive use lack sufficiently high time efficiency to apply them effectively for evaluating interaction patterns for 3DCreation- Oriented-User-Interfaces (3D-CUIs) in the context of the industrial project 3DGUIde. These interaction patterns describe in a structured way how 3D-CUIs – user interfaces aimed to create three-dimensional content – should be designed to support intuitive use. This work therefore proposes two new evaluation methods for intuitive use: 1) IntuiBeat-F as a formative method and 2) IntuiBeat-S as a summative method. Based on default-interventionist theories and current definitions of intuitive, this work identifies mental efficiency as the central objective, the metacognitive feeling of fluency as the central subjective and the effectiveness as the central pragmatic attribute associated with intuitive use. The evaluation of intuitive use with IntuiBeat-F and IntuiBeat-S is promising since both methods are inhibition-based rhythm secondary tasks, and can therefore assess mental efficiency objectively. Their potential for a time efficient evaluation of 3D-CUIs is discussed in the light of existing research in human-computer interaction and psychology and empirical research questions are derived from this discussion. The first research question examines the scientific quality of IntuiBeat-S. In the first, the second and the third experiment pairs of 3D-CUIs are compared in a summative manner (i.e., less intuitive vs. more intuitive user interfaces) and the scientific quality of IntuiBeat- S is assessed with regard to the scientific criteria objectivity, reliability and validity. The results show that IntuiBeat-S has a high scientific quality. Moreover, it makes no difference whether the rhythm is entered via the heel or the ball of the foot and whether the tested undergraduate students are more or less experienced in dealing with 3D-CUIs. The second research question examines the scientific quality of IntuiBeat-F. In the fourth, the fifth, the sixth and the seventh experiment 3D-CUIs are evaluated individually in a formative manner (i.e., either a less intuitive or more intuitive user interface) and the scientific quality of IntuiBeat-F is assessed with regard to the scientific criteria thoroughness, validity and reliability. The results show that IntuiBeat-F has a high scientific quality. The scientific quality of IntuiBeat-F is higher when strictly applied (i.e., considering usability problems solely found with the method), but it is already high when applied less strictly (i.e., considering further usability problems found regardless of the method). However, only the development and use of an additional analysis software in the sixth and the seventh experiment show the scientific quality of IntuiBeat-F as a formative evaluation method for intuitive use with regard to all three scientific criteria. Without the software support, IntuiBeat-F is not applied thoroughly by the evaluator. The third research question examines the practical quality of both methods in terms of application time efficiency when compared to existing evaluation methods for intuitive use. Regarding the summative evaluation, the second experiment demonstrates a higher application time efficiency of IntuiBeat-S in comparison to the current summative benchmark, the CHAI method, when evaluating both less and more intuitive 3D-CUIs. With regard to the formative evaluation, the last four experiments show a higher application time efficiency of IntuiBeat-F in comparison to the current formative benchmark, the user test with retrospective think-aloud protocol, when evaluating both less and more intuitive 3D-CUIs, irrespective of whether or not an additional analysis software is used. As a result of these studies it can be concluded that the scientific quality and the application time efficiency of both methods for the evaluation of intuitive use in the context of 3D-CUIs can be considered satisfactory. This work closes with a discussion of the accomplished research contribution and suggestions for future research from a theoretical (e.g., consideration of the feeling of fluency during the evaluation), a practical (e.g., applicability of both methods in other domains) and a methodological perspective (e.g., assessment of the practical quality of both methods using other criteria).

Emotional shifts are often a fundamental part of the narrative experience and engrained into the schematic structures of stories. Recent theoretical work suggests that these shifts are key for narrative influence and are interconnected with transportation, a known mechanism of narrative effects. Empirical research examining this proposition is still scarce, inconclusive, and lacking measures that assess the experience of emotional shifts throughout a narrative to explain effects. This thesis aims to contribute to this research lacuna and investigates the link between emotional shifts, transportation, and story-consistent outcomes using different methods to measure emotional shifts in the moment they occur (Manuscript #1 and #2), and using various narrative stimuli (audiovisual, written, auditive). Manuscript #1 uses real-time-response (RTR) measurement to examine the relationship of valence shifts experienced during film viewing with transportation and post-exposure self-reported emotional flow. Manuscript #2 reports a pilot study and two experiments in which a self-probed emotional retrospection task is used to measure the number and intensity of emotional shifts during reading. I investigate the effect of reviews on transportation, the link between transportation and emotional shifts, and their respective associations with story-consistent attitudes, social sharing intentions, and donation behavior. In Manuscript #3, narrative structures are manipulated. Two experiments examine the effects of audio stories with shifting (positive-negative-positive) vs. positive-only emotional trajectories on the experience of happiness- and sadness-shifts, transportation, and post-exposure emotional flow. Transportation was positively linked to valence shifts (M#1), and the number and intensity of emotional shifts (M#2), and emotional flow (M#1, M#3). In M#3, transportation was predicted by shifts in happiness, but not sadness. Emotional flow was linked to shifts in happiness, sadness, and RTR valence (M#1, M#3). Emotional shifts and transportation were associated with social sharing intentions, but only transportation was linked to some story-consistent attitudes (affective attitudes in particular). / Dynamisches emotionales Erleben ist oft charakteristisch für die Rezeption von Geschichten. Aktuelle theoretische Arbeiten postulieren, dass diese emotionalen Wechsel für den Einfluss von Narrationen entscheidend und mit Transportation, einem bekannten Mechanismus für narrative Wirkungen, verflochten sind. Empirische Evidenz zu dieser These ist noch rar, inkonsistent, und es kommt meist kein Prozessmaß emotionaler Wechsel zum Einsatz, um Effekte zu erklären. Die vorliegende Arbeit soll einen Beitrag zu dieser Forschungslücke leisten und untersucht den Zusammenhang zwischen emotionalen Wechseln, Transportation und persuasiven Wirkungen unter Verwendung verschiedener Stimuli (audiovisuell, schriftlich, auditiv) und Methoden zur Messung emotionaler Veränderungen im Moment ihres Auftretens (Manuskript 1 und 2). Manuskript #1 verwendet Real-Time-Response Messung (RTR) zur Untersuchung der Beziehung zwischen Valenzverschiebungen während der Filmrezeption, Transportation und retrospektiv selbstberichtetem Emotional Flow. Manuskript #2 berichtet eine Pilotstudie und zwei Experimente, die eine Self-Probed Emotional Retrospection Task zur Messung der Anzahl und Intensität emotionaler Wechsel während des Lesens verwenden. Die Experimente untersuchen die Wirkungen einer Rezensions-Manipulation auf Transportation sowie die Zusammenhänge zwischen Transportation, emotionalen Wechseln, Einstellungen, Absichten zum sozialen Teilen und Spendenverhalten. In Manuskript #3 werden Erzählstrukturen manipuliert. In zwei Experimenten werden die Wirkungen auditiver Geschichten mit wechselnden (positiv-negativ-positiv) bzw. nur positiven Strukturen auf erlebte Veränderungen von Freude und Trauer, Transportation, und Emotional Flow untersucht. Transportation stand in positivem Zusammenhang mit Valenzverschiebungen (M#1), der Anzahl und Intensität emotionaler Wechsel (M#2) und Emotional Flow (M#1, M#3). In M#3 wurde Transportation durch Veränderungen von Freude, aber nicht Trauer vorhergesagt. Emotional Flow war mit Veränderungen von Freude, Trauer und RTR-Valenzverschiebungen korreliert (M#1, M#3). Mehr und intensivere emotionale Wechsel und Transportation gingen mit einer erhöhten Absicht einher, Inhalte zu teilen bzw. über Inhalte zu reden. Nur Transportation war jedoch mit einigen der untersuchten (insbesondere affektiven) Einstellungen assoziiert.

Die aktuellen Veränderungen der Arbeitswelt erfordern eine stetige Anpassung an immer neue Herausforderungen seitens der Arbeitgeber und Arbeitnehmer. Lebenslanges Lernen und damit eine kontinuierliche Weiterbildung der Mitarbeiter ist essentiell für Unternehmen, um auf dem schnelllebigen Arbeitsmarkt wettbewerbsfähig zu sein. Die Bereitschaft und die Motivation von Menschen, dazuzulernen, ist jedoch sehr unterschiedlich. Eine mögliche Erklärung dafür liefert die dispositionelle Zielorientierung, welche der Achievement-Goal-Theorie entstammt. Das Konstrukt beschreibt, ob Menschen eine individuelle Präferenz für Lernziele (z.B. Kompetenzzuwachs) oder Leistungsziele (z.B. gute Beurteilungen bekommen oder schlechte Beurteilungen vermeiden) haben. Neben den Persönlichkeitsaspekten konzentriert sich die Forschung im Rahmen der Achievement-Goal-Theorie auch auf den Einfluss der Umgebung auf Lern- und Leistungsprozesse. Die sogenannte arbeitsplatzbezogene Zielorientierung beschreibt die wahrgenommene Zielstruktur der Arbeitsumgebung und stellt das situationsbedingte Gegenstück der Dispositionen dar. Zahlreiche Befunde aus dem Bereich der pädagogischen Psychologie zu Zielstrukturen der Umgebung zeigen einen Einfluss auf beispielsweise Lernerfolg, Motivation, Selbstregulationsprozesse oder Leistung. Zielstrukturen im Arbeitskontext stellen hingegen ein bisher wenig beachtetes Konstrukt dar. Ausgehend von den aktuellen Befunden zu Zielstrukturen, könnte die arbeitsplatzbezogene Zielorientierung jedoch einen wichtigen Beitrag leisten, wenn es um die Frage geht, wie Mitarbeiter unterstützt und zu Lernprozessen angeregt werden können. Die Identifizierung von lern- und leistungsförderlichen Zielstrukturen der Arbeitsumgebung würde wertvolle Ansatzpunkte für die Mitarbeiterentwicklung in der betrieblichen Praxis liefern. Im Rahmen von drei empirischen Studien wird der Relevanz der Zielorientierung im Arbeits-kontext nachgegangen. Neben der Überprüfung eines ins Deutsche übertragenen und angepassten Mess-instruments zur Erhebung der arbeitsplatzbezogenen Zielorientierung (Studie 1) steht vor allem die Untersuchung möglicher Einflüsse des Konstrukts auf arbeitsrelevante Variablen im Vordergrund, um förderliche Zielstrukturen zu identifizieren (Studie 1 & 2). Darüber hinaus werden erstmalig mögliche Person-Situation-Interaktionen in diesem Zusammenhang untersucht (Studie 2). Abschließend erfolgt eine Untersuchung möglicher Antezedenten der arbeitsplatzbezogenen Zielorientierung, woraus sich erste wichtige Anhaltspunkte für Interventionsmaßnahmen am Arbeitsplatz ableiten lassen (Studie 3). Die Ergebnisse der Studien zeigen, dass insbesondere ein lernzielorientierter Arbeitsplatz förderlich für die untersuchten Variablen wie Lernerfolg, Leistung oder auch berufliche Selbstwirksamkeit ist. In Bezug auf die Interaktion von Person und Situation ergaben sich gemischte Befunde, die kein eindeutiges Interaktionsmuster aufweisen. Bei der Frage, wie ein lernzielorientierter Arbeitsplatz gefördert werden kann, erwies sich vor allem die Art und Weise, wie Führungskräfte mit Fehlern umgehen, als relevant. Die Studien liefern demnach wichtige erste Ansätze für theoretische und praktische Implikationen, wie Mitarbeiter in Lern- und Leistungsprozessen unterstützt werden können. / Lifelong learning, as well as a continuous training of the employees, is essential for organisations to stay competitive on the fast-changing labour market. However, the motivation and willingness to learn are very different for individual people. The dispositional goal orientation, stemming from the achievement goal theory can explain these differences. The construct describes if people show an individual preference for learning goals or performance goals. Within the achievement goal theory, besides the personality aspects, research also focuses on the influence of the environment on learning and performance processes. The so-called workplace goal orientation describes the perceived goal structure of the work environment and represents the situational counterpart of the individual disposition. Based on the recent findings on goal structures, workplace goal orientation could make an important contribution to the question of how to support employees and on how to stimulate their learning processes. The identification of goal structures of the work environment that are beneficial to learning and performance would provide valuable starting points and approaches for the development of employees in operational practice. The results of these studies show that learning goal-oriented workplaces are especially beneficial for the examined variables such as learning success, performance, or occupational self-efficacy. As to how learning goal-oriented workplaces can be promoted, especially the manner in which supervisors deal with mistakes, is relevant. Thus, these studies contribute important first approaches for theoretical and practical implications on how to support employees in learning and performance processes.

Creativity is a valuable attribute that involves the generation of original ideas; attention is a vital function that facilitates information selection. Past research has related these cognitive constructs, having found that highly creative people tend to be more distractible than those less creative, which allows them to produce more novel associations. This thesis aimed to test the relationship between these two processes using multiple tests of creativity (e.g., achievement, divergent thinking, and collage-making) and attention (e.g., focused, sustained, selective, and divided attention), which represented the complexity of each construct, and improved upon the methods previously reported. Additionally, the performance of participants with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) was compared to those without. Four studies were carried out. Within the first two, creativity scores were compared and related to attention scores, within and between control and ADHD groups. No consistent relationships were found. The ADHD group had higher creativity scores on average, but the differences were not significant. Study three incorporated eye-tracking techniques to explore the effect of visual stimulation on creativity and attention performance between-groups. It was found that the ADHD group looked at the attention task targets significantly less, yet their performance was not significantly worse. No between-group differences in creativity were found. The visually stimulating environment did not affect performance. Study four investigated the effect of an incubation period on creativity. Results showed that incubation increased the proportion of original ideas, but performance did not vary according to incubation task demand. However, self-report responses indicated that participants did not sufficiently engage in the incubation period, as they continued to think consciously of solutions. The link between creativity and attention is not supported, and the idea that ADHD is beneficial to creativity is not fully upheld. Further research should examine creativity and attention in work or university settings, to consider the existence of a ‘real life' relationship.

A major challenge facing managers in current organizations is an increasingly diverse workforce (Jehn, Lindred, & Rupert, 2008). Diversity, “a characteristic of a social grouping that reflects the degree to which there are objective or subjective differences between people within the group” (Van Knippenberg & Schippers, 2007, p. 519), refers to an almost infinite number of dimensions of differences between group members, ranging from differences in age to nationality, from religious background to personality, from work skills to emotions (Van Knippenberg, De Dreu, & Homan, 2004). Until recently, the diversity field had been dominated by the main effects approach and thus mainly examined whether diversity has negative or positive effects on team outcomes. Typically, researchers draw on two seemingly contradictory theoretical perspectives to answer this question (see Williams & O'Reilly, 1998). The “value in diversity” perspective (Cox, Lobel, & Mcleod, 1991) proposes that diversity may improve team functioning due to an increased variety of knowledge, expertise, and opinions. An opposing, pessimistic perspective posits that diversity may result in social divisions and negative intra-group processes, which may detract from team functioning (Mannix & Neale, 2005). Despite the intuitive sense that both approaches make, two decades of research has resulted in highly inconsistent findings and corroborated the conclusion that the main effects approach is unable to account for the effects of diversity adequately (Bowers, Pharmer, & Salas, 2000). Consequently, researchers have recently begun to explore the question of whether, and how, the perspectives on the effects of diversity can be reconciled and integrated (Van Knippenberg et al., 2004). Prominent attempts to answer this question mainly rely on contingency models (e.g., Wegge, 2003), proposing that whether diversity results in negative or positive outcomes depends upon several moderators. The research agenda set by such models informs the major part of research efforts in the field. Indeed, the contingency approach has proved useful for the purpose of integrating past contradicting findings and advancing knowledge of the moderators and mediators underlying the effects of diversity. However, despite these notable theoretical developments, current research is still limited in its ability to capture the rich and wide-ranging influence of diversity in the workplace. This dissertation identifies two main sources for this weakness. First, the majority of diversity research regards diversity as an isolated phenomenon that occurs only on a single organizational level. Cross-level influences of diversity, however, are largely ignored. Second, despite the richness that the contingency approach has added to the study of diversity, it has not changed the fundamental goal guiding this field: examining the relationship between diversity and work outcomes. I shall argue that diversity research has so far overlooked other aspects of the influence of diversity and that it can benefit from turning into new and unexplored avenues. In particular, diversity research may benefit from examining team diversity in roles other than the independent variable, and especially explore the influence of diversity as a context (i.e., moderating) variable. Thus, in an attempt to overcome these two limitations, the overarching aim of this dissertation is to extend previous work by reassessing the role of diversity. In particular, this dissertation illustrates the empirical and theoretical usefulness of conceptualizing diversity as a cross-level moderator and explores the ways in which team diversity sets the context and influences work phenomena across organizational levels. Study 1 explored the cross-level relationship between organizational tenure and employee performance in a prospective design. It was found that employee tenure, team leader tenure, and team tenure diversity exert positive effects on employee performance. Additional finding, a three-way interaction between employee tenure, team tenure diversity, and team leader tenure on employee performance, suggests that the positive effect of employee tenure on performance is weaker when either team tenure diversity or team leader tenure or both are high. The hypotheses were tested using multi-level modeling and an objective measure of employee performance with a sample of 1767 employees and 256 leaders in intact working teams of a large financial services firm. The findings suggest that team diversity grants organizational tenure its meaning, thereby determining to what extent the benefits associated with organizational tenure will unfold. Study 2 further examined the empirical and theoretical usefulness of conceptualizing team diversity as a cross-level moderator. Particularly, the relationship between gender diversity in teams and individual-level health symptoms of men and women was examined in two consecutive years in 220 natural work teams (N 1st year = 4538; N 2nd year=5182). In an attempt to account for inconsistencies in the literature regarding the relationship between gender and health symptoms, I examined this relationship from a multilevel perspective. As expected, it was found that individual-level gender was not related to health symptoms but that team gender diversity determined this relationship. Specifically, while there were no individual-level differences between men and women in health symptoms, it was found that women report more health symptoms as the proportion of female employees in the team increased. In contrast, men’s self-reported health symptoms remained invariant with team gender diversity changes. These findings were found stable across two measurement points, over two years. Finally, Study 3 examined the role that subjective team diversity plays in facilitating affective linkages (i.e., the convergence of affect among team members over time) within teams. The results of Study A (170 employees in 33 Israeli teams) provide evidence that affective linkages among team members were moderated by perceived team diversity such that the linkages were stronger in teams with lower perceived diversity. Study B (304 employees in 61 German teams) replicated the findings of Study A and extended them by including an additional moderator, team identification. Using hierarchical linear modeling, it was found that team identification moderated the influence of perceived diversity on affective linkages. The most striking contribution that all three studies offer is a strong support for the usefulness of conceptualizing diversity as a cross-level moderator. Particularly, in Study 1 team tenure diversity determined whether and to what extent the positive effects of organizational tenure on individual performance might be realized. In Study 2, gender diversity determined the relationship between individual gender and health. Finally, in Study 3, perceived diversity influenced the strength of affective linkages in teams. The three studies are also consistent in illustrating the theoretical usefulness of conceptualizing team diversity as a context variable. To be exact, the current approach integrates the micro domain's focus on individuals with the macro domain's focus on groups. The result is a richer portrait of organizational life—one that acknowledges the influence of the team context on individuals' actions and perceptions. In sum, the findings demonstrate that viewing team diversity as a moderator broadens the focus of diversity research, illuminates new roles of team diversity, draws a richer and more complex portrait of other work phenomena, and opens new horizons for diversity research.

Die in den drei Manuskripten vorgestellten Arbeiten zielen auf die Beantwortung der Frage, warum in Organisationen Fehlentwicklungen nicht angesprochen werden. Die Ergebnisse der Arbeit lassen sich folgendermaßen zusammenfassen: 1) Ein funktionaler Ansatz wurde vorgestellt, mit dessen Hilfe die verfügbaren Erklärungsansätze zu Organizational Silence (als Stille in Organisationen konzipiert) über mehrere Ebenen (Mitarbeiter-, Gruppen- und Organisationsebene) integriert werden können. Ich habe mit der Ausarbeitung der Mitarbeiterebene begonnen. Dabei unterschied ich vier Formen von Mitarbeiterschweigen (angstbasiertes, resignatives, prosoziales und opportunistisches Schweigen) und entwickelt eine Skala, mit der erstmals verschiedene Formen von Mitarbeiterschweigen empirisch getrennt voneinander untersucht werden können. Die Skala wurde eingesetzt, um für die vier Formen Vorbedingungen, Begleiterscheinungen und Folgen herauszuarbeiten. Die Verfügbarkeit dieser kurzen Skala mit guten psychometrischen Werten wird eine genauere Ausarbeitung der Konzepte ermöglichen. 2) Bestehende Zugänge zum Authentizitätskonzept wurden integriert und ein Kernkonzept von Authentizität vorgestellt. Dieses Konzept umfasst eine auf das Selbst gerichtete Dimension (Authentic Self-Awareness) und eine auf den Ausdruck des Selbst gerichtete Dimension (Authentic Self-Expression). Für die Erfassung dieses Kernkonstrukts wurde eine Skala entwickelt und getestet. Durch die sparsame Zwei-Faktorenstruktur und die Kurzskala ist es möglich, Authentizität auch im angewandten Kontext relativ problemlos zu untersuchen. Dadurch lassen sich potentiell die erwarteten positiven Zusammenhänge empirisch bestätigen und widersprüchliche Annahmen mit Hilfe empirischen Datenmaterials aufklären. 3) Authentizität wurde als Prädiktor für das Verschweigen (Employee Silence) und für das Ansprechen von Fehlentwicklungen in Organisationen (Employee Voice) eingeführt. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass Authentizität in der Vorhersage von Silence und Voice inkrementelle Validität über besehende Prädiktoren wie z.B. Team Psychological Safety, Organisationale Identifikation, Arbeitszufriedenheit und Work Engagement aufweist.:1 Einführung und Integration 2 1.1 Schweigen schadet 2 1.2 Warum schweigen Mitarbeiter zu Fehlentwicklungen in Organisationen? 3 1.2.1 Ableitung der Fragestellung 3 1.2.2 Lösungsansatz: Formen von Mitarbeiterschweigen und ihre Messbarkeit 6 1.3 Wer durchbricht die Stille? 8 1.3.1 Ableitung der Fragestellung 8 1.3.2 Lösungsansatz: Authentizität als Mittel gegen Schweigen 10 1.4 Fazit und offene Fragen 15 1.5 Literatur 19 2 Zeitschriftenbeiträge 28 2.1 Knoll, M. & van Dick, R. (2011). Do I hear a whistle…? Organizational silence as a function of four forms of employee silence. Manuscript prepared for submission. 29 2.2 Knoll, M., Kroemer, N. B., & Schröder-Abé, M. (2011). What does it mean to be authentic? A core concept of authenticity and its measurement. Manuscript prepared for submission 69 2.3 Knoll, M. & van Dick, R. (2011). By thyself (at work). Investigating the relationship between authenticity and challenging extra-role behavior. Manuscript prepared for submission 109

In the last decade, mobile device ownership has largely increased. In particular, smartphone ownership is constantly rising (A. Smith, 2015; Statista, 2016a), and there is a real hype for luxury brand smartphones (Griffin, 2015). These observations raise the question of which functions smartphones serve in addition to their original purposes of making and receiving calls, searching for information, and organizing. Beyond these obvious functions, studies suggest that smartphones express fashion, lifestyle, and one’s economic status (e.g., Bødker et al., 2009; Statista, 2016b; Vanden Abeele, Antheunis, & Schouten, 2014). Specifically, individuals seem to purchase and use conspicuous luxury brand smartphones to display and enhance status (D. Kim et al., 2014; Müller-Lietzkow et al., 2014; Suki, 2013). But how does owning a conspicuous, high-status smartphone contribute to status, and which benefits may these status boosts provide to their owners? From an evolutionary perspective, status carries a lot of advantages, particularly for males; high status grants them priority access to resources and correlates with their mating success (van Vugt & Tybur, 2016). In this sense, research suggests that men conspicuously display their cell phones to attract mates and to distinguish themselves from rivals (Lycett & Dunbar, 2000). In a similar vein, evolutionarily informed studies on conspicuous consumption indicate that the purchase and display of conspicuous luxuries (including mobile phones and smartphones) relate to a man’s interest in uncommitted sexual relationships and enhance his desirability as a short-term mate (Hennighausen & Schwab, 2014; Saad, 2013; Sundie et al., 2011). Drawing on these findings, this doctoral dissertation investigated how a man is perceived given that he is an owner of a high-status (vs. nonconspicuous, low-status) smartphone as a romantic partner and male rival. This was done in three experiments. In addition, it was examined how male conspicuous consumption of smartphones interacted with further traits that signal a man’s mate quality, namely facial attractiveness (Studies 1 and 2) and social dominance (Study 3). Study 1 revealed that men and women perceived a male owner of a conspicuous smartphone as a less desirable long-term mate and as more inclined toward short-term mating. Study 2 replicated these results and showed that men and women assigned traits that are associated with short-term mating (e.g., low loyalty, interest in flirts, availability of tangible resources) to a male owner of a conspicuous smartphone and perceived him as a stronger male rival and mate poacher, and less as a friend. The results of Study 2 further suggested that specifically more attractive men might benefit from owning a conspicuous smartphone in a short-term mating context and might be hence considered as stronger male rivals. Study 3 partially replicated the findings of Studies 1 and 2 pertaining to the effects of owning a conspicuous smartphone. Study 3 did not show different effects of conspicuous consumption of smartphones on perceptions of a man dependent on the level of his social dominance. To conclude, the findings of this doctoral dissertation suggest that owning a conspicuous, high-status smartphone might not only serve proximate functions (e.g., making and receiving calls, organization) but also ultimate functions, which relate to mating and reproduction. The results indicate that owning a conspicuous smartphone might yield benefits for men in a short-term rather than in a long-term mating context. Furthermore, more attractive men appear to benefit more from owning a conspicuous smartphone than less attractive men. These findings provide further insights into the motivations that underlie men’s purchases and displays of conspicuous, high-status smartphones from luxury brands that reach beyond the proximate causes frequently described in media and consumer psychological research. By applying an evolutionary perspective, this doctoral dissertation demonstrates the power and utility of this research paradigm for media psychological research and shows how combining a proximate and ultimate perspective adds to a more profound understanding of smartphone phenomena. / In den letzten 10 Jahren ist die Zahl der Personen, die ein Mobilgerät besitzen, stark angestiegen. Insbesondere nimmt die Anzahl der Smartphone-Besitzer stetig zu (A. Smith, 2015; Statista, 2016a). Es ist nahezu ein regelrechter „Smartphone-Hype“ zu beobachten, der sich vor allem um bestimmte Geräte von Luxus-Marken dreht (Griffin, 2015). Diese Beobachtungen lassen die Frage aufkommen, welche Funktionen Smartphones haben, die über ihre eigentlichen Funktionen, wie z.B. Anrufe empfangen und tätigen, Informationssuche und Organisation hinausgehen. Studien zeigen, dass Smartphones zusätzlich zu diesen naheliegenden Funktionen auch Ausdruck von Mode, Lifestyle und Status sein können (z.B. Bødker et al., 2009; Statista, 2016b; Vanden Abeele et al., 2014). Dies scheint besonders auf auffällige Smartphones von Luxus-Marken zu zutreffen: Personen kaufen und nutzen diese Geräte, um ihren sozialen Status zu zeigen und zu steigern (D. Kim et al., 2014; Müller-Lietzkow et al., 2014; Suki, 2013). Wie jedoch kann der Besitz eines auffälligen, statusträchtigen Smartphones den eigenen Status erhöhen und welche Vorteile bringt dies mit sich? Aus einer evolutionären Perspektive hat Status viele Vorteile, vor allem für Männer. Ein hoher Status gewährt exklusiven Zugang zu Ressourcen und korreliert mit männlichem Paarungserfolg (van Vugt & Tybur, 2016). So zeigen Studien, dass Männer ihre Mobiltelefone auffallend häufig zeigen, um damit ihren finanziellen und sozialen Status zu demonstrieren, mit dem Ziel potenzielle Partnerinnen auf sich aufmerksam zu machen und sich von Konkurrenten abzuheben (Lycett & Dunbar, 2000). Ähnliches legen auch Studien aus dem Bereich der evolutionären Konsumenten-psychologie nahe: Der Kauf und die Zurschaustellung von auffälligen Luxus-Produkten (inkl. Handys und Smartphones) scheint mit dem Interesse eines Mannes an einer kurzfristigen sexuellen Beziehung in Zusammenhang zu stehen und seinen Partnerwert insbesondere in diesem Kontext zu steigern (Hennighausen & Schwab, 2014; Saad, 2013; Sundie et al., 2011). Aufbauend auf diesen Befunden untersuchte die vorliegende Dissertation in drei experimentellen Studien, wie Männer und Frauen einen Mann, der als Besitzer eines ein auffälligen, statusträchtigen (vs. unauffälligen, wenig mit Status assoziierten) Smartphones präsentiert wurde, als potenziellen Partner und gleichgeschlechtlichen Konkurrenten wahrnahmen. Darüber hinaus wurde untersucht, wie männlicher Geltungskonsum von Smartphones mit zwei weiteren Faktoren, die den Partnerwert eines Mannes signalisieren, interagiert. Dazu wurden zusätzlich die Gesichtsattraktivität (Studie 1 und 2) sowie die soziale Dominanz (Studie 3) des Smartphone-Besitzers manipuliert. Studie 1 zeigte, dass Männer und Frauen den Besitzer eines auffälligen, statusträchtigen Smartphones als einen schlechteren Partner für eine feste Beziehung einschätzten und ihn als interessierter an unverbindlichen sexuellen Beziehungen wahrnahmen im Vergleich zu einem Mann, der als Besitzer eines unauffälligeren, nur wenig mit Status assoziierten Smartphones gezeigt wurde. Studie 2 replizierte diese Befunde und zeigte zudem, dass Männer und Frauen dem Besitzer eines auffälligen Smartphones eher Eigenschaften zuschrieben, die mit einer Kurzzeitpartnerschaft assoziiert sind (z.B. geringe Treue, erhöhte Flirtbereitschaft, schnelle Verfügbarkeit von Ressourcen). Darüber hinaus wurde der Besitzer eines auffälligen Smartphones als ein stärkerer Rivale, als eine größere Bedrohung für eine bestehende Beziehung sowie als ein schlechterer Freund wahrgenommen. Diese Effekte zeigten sich insbesondere dann, wenn der Besitzer des auffälligen Smartphones auch attraktiv war. In Studie 3 konnten die Effekte, die der Besitz eines auffälligen Smartphones auf die Einschätzung eines Mannes als romantischen Partner und gleichgeschlechtlichen Konkurrenten hat, zum Teil repliziert werden. In Studie 3 traten diese Effekte jedoch unabhängig von der sozialen Dominanz des Mannes auf. Insgesamt lassen die Ergebnisse dieser Dissertation vermuten, dass der Besitz eines auffälligen, statusträchtigen Smartphones einer Luxusmarke nicht nur proximate Funktionen (wie z.B. Anrufe empfangen und tätigen, Organisation), sondern auch ultimate Funktionen erfüllen könnte, die sich auf Paarung und Fortpflanzung erstreckt. Die Ergebnisse deuten an, dass Männer vom Besitz eines auffälligen, statusträchtigen Smartphones einer Luxusmarke eher im Kontext einer kurzen, unverbindlichen Beziehung als im Kontext einer festen Partnerschaft profitieren könnten. Darüber hinaus scheinen v.a. attraktivere Männer vom Besitz eines auffälligen Smartphones zu profitieren. Diese Befunde tragen zu einem besseren Verständnis bei, weshalb Männer auffällige, status-trächtige Smartphones von Luxusmarken kaufen und diese zur Schau stellen. Dabei gehen die in dieser Dissertation erlangten Befunde über bisherige Erkenntnisse der Medien- und Konsumentenpsychologie hinaus, welche vorranging proximate Ursachen für den Kauf und die Nutzung von Smartphones diskutiert haben. Durch die Anwendung einer evolutionären Perspektive veranschaulicht die vorliegende Arbeit die Leistung und den Nutzens dieses Forschungsparadigmas für medienpsychologische Forschung und zeigt auf, wie die Synthese einer proximaten und ultimaten Perspektive zu einem umfassenderen Verständnis des Phänomens Smartphone führt.

A major challenge facing managers in current organizations is an increasingly diverse workforce (Jehn, Lindred, & Rupert, 2008). Diversity, “a characteristic of a social grouping that reflects the degree to which there are objective or subjective differences between people within the group” (Van Knippenberg & Schippers, 2007, p. 519), refers to an almost infinite number of dimensions of differences between group members, ranging from differences in age to nationality, from religious background to personality, from work skills to emotions (Van Knippenberg, De Dreu, & Homan, 2004). Until recently, the diversity field had been dominated by the main effects approach and thus mainly examined whether diversity has negative or positive effects on team outcomes. Typically, researchers draw on two seemingly contradictory theoretical perspectives to answer this question (see Williams & O'Reilly, 1998). The “value in diversity” perspective (Cox, Lobel, & Mcleod, 1991) proposes that diversity may improve team functioning due to an increased variety of knowledge, expertise, and opinions. An opposing, pessimistic perspective posits that diversity may result in social divisions and negative intra-group processes, which may detract from team functioning (Mannix & Neale, 2005). Despite the intuitive sense that both approaches make, two decades of research has resulted in highly inconsistent findings and corroborated the conclusion that the main effects approach is unable to account for the effects of diversity adequately (Bowers, Pharmer, & Salas, 2000). Consequently, researchers have recently begun to explore the question of whether, and how, the perspectives on the effects of diversity can be reconciled and integrated (Van Knippenberg et al., 2004). Prominent attempts to answer this question mainly rely on contingency models (e.g., Wegge, 2003), proposing that whether diversity results in negative or positive outcomes depends upon several moderators. The research agenda set by such models informs the major part of research efforts in the field. Indeed, the contingency approach has proved useful for the purpose of integrating past contradicting findings and advancing knowledge of the moderators and mediators underlying the effects of diversity. However, despite these notable theoretical developments, current research is still limited in its ability to capture the rich and wide-ranging influence of diversity in the workplace. This dissertation identifies two main sources for this weakness. First, the majority of diversity research regards diversity as an isolated phenomenon that occurs only on a single organizational level. Cross-level influences of diversity, however, are largely ignored. Second, despite the richness that the contingency approach has added to the study of diversity, it has not changed the fundamental goal guiding this field: examining the relationship between diversity and work outcomes. I shall argue that diversity research has so far overlooked other aspects of the influence of diversity and that it can benefit from turning into new and unexplored avenues. In particular, diversity research may benefit from examining team diversity in roles other than the independent variable, and especially explore the influence of diversity as a context (i.e., moderating) variable. Thus, in an attempt to overcome these two limitations, the overarching aim of this dissertation is to extend previous work by reassessing the role of diversity. In particular, this dissertation illustrates the empirical and theoretical usefulness of conceptualizing diversity as a cross-level moderator and explores the ways in which team diversity sets the context and influences work phenomena across organizational levels. Study 1 explored the cross-level relationship between organizational tenure and employee performance in a prospective design. It was found that employee tenure, team leader tenure, and team tenure diversity exert positive effects on employee performance. Additional finding, a three-way interaction between employee tenure, team tenure diversity, and team leader tenure on employee performance, suggests that the positive effect of employee tenure on performance is weaker when either team tenure diversity or team leader tenure or both are high. The hypotheses were tested using multi-level modeling and an objective measure of employee performance with a sample of 1767 employees and 256 leaders in intact working teams of a large financial services firm. The findings suggest that team diversity grants organizational tenure its meaning, thereby determining to what extent the benefits associated with organizational tenure will unfold. Study 2 further examined the empirical and theoretical usefulness of conceptualizing team diversity as a cross-level moderator. Particularly, the relationship between gender diversity in teams and individual-level health symptoms of men and women was examined in two consecutive years in 220 natural work teams (N 1st year = 4538; N 2nd year=5182). In an attempt to account for inconsistencies in the literature regarding the relationship between gender and health symptoms, I examined this relationship from a multilevel perspective. As expected, it was found that individual-level gender was not related to health symptoms but that team gender diversity determined this relationship. Specifically, while there were no individual-level differences between men and women in health symptoms, it was found that women report more health symptoms as the proportion of female employees in the team increased. In contrast, men’s self-reported health symptoms remained invariant with team gender diversity changes. These findings were found stable across two measurement points, over two years. Finally, Study 3 examined the role that subjective team diversity plays in facilitating affective linkages (i.e., the convergence of affect among team members over time) within teams. The results of Study A (170 employees in 33 Israeli teams) provide evidence that affective linkages among team members were moderated by perceived team diversity such that the linkages were stronger in teams with lower perceived diversity. Study B (304 employees in 61 German teams) replicated the findings of Study A and extended them by including an additional moderator, team identification. Using hierarchical linear modeling, it was found that team identification moderated the influence of perceived diversity on affective linkages. The most striking contribution that all three studies offer is a strong support for the usefulness of conceptualizing diversity as a cross-level moderator. Particularly, in Study 1 team tenure diversity determined whether and to what extent the positive effects of organizational tenure on individual performance might be realized. In Study 2, gender diversity determined the relationship between individual gender and health. Finally, in Study 3, perceived diversity influenced the strength of affective linkages in teams. The three studies are also consistent in illustrating the theoretical usefulness of conceptualizing team diversity as a context variable. To be exact, the current approach integrates the micro domain's focus on individuals with the macro domain's focus on groups. The result is a richer portrait of organizational life—one that acknowledges the influence of the team context on individuals' actions and perceptions. In sum, the findings demonstrate that viewing team diversity as a moderator broadens the focus of diversity research, illuminates new roles of team diversity, draws a richer and more complex portrait of other work phenomena, and opens new horizons for diversity research.

Work towards the development of a new computer-assisted methodology for psychological study and intervention is described. This is referred to as the Personal Knowledge Methodology since it focuses on the elicitation and presentation of personal knowledge. Personal knowledge includes the knowledge individuals have of their life history, their behaviours, their moods, their relationships, their ambitions, and so on. Principles and techniques used in Knowledge Engineering form the basis of the design of the Personal Knowledge Methodology. At the heart of the methodology is the use of a suite of knowledge acquisition and modelling techniques. These are referred to as Personal Knowledge Techniques. Based on a review of a wide-range of literature, eight techniques were selected to be assessed for their possible use as Personal Knowledge Techniques. These included interview-based techniques, repertory grid techniques and diagram-based techniques. Two in-depth studies took place involving 18 participants and a total of 100 knowledge acquisition sessions. The results revealed that each of the eight techniques showed promise at efficiently capturing and structuring aspects of an individual’s personal knowledge. In addition, the techniques showed potential for providing help in allowing reflection and revealing insights. In particular, a technique based on the construction and use of a state transition network was found to be the most highly rated by the participants. A content analysis of the knowledge acquired formed the basis of an ontology of personal knowledge that would underpin many uses of the Personal Knowledge Methodology. The empirical work and analysis led to a number of ideas for future developments of the methodology and uses for the Personal Knowledge Techniques.