Gender discrimination and work motivation are two important constructs for employers to consider. Changing workforce trends towards a more diverse workforce make understanding discrimination in the workplace more important than ever. And, established direct relationships between motivation and performance make understanding motivation key to organizational success. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among perceived gender discrimination at work, work motivation, and performance. Although much theory and research exists regarding motivation and performance, this study uses a new measure of motivation based on the Pritchard and Ashwood (2007) theory of work motivation. It was hypothesized that perceived gender discrimination would be negatively related to motivation, and that motivation would be positively related to performance. It was further hypothesized that motivation would mediate the relationship between perceived discrimination and performance. Consistent with social identity and attribution theory, gender identification was examined as a moderator of the relationship between perceived discrimination and motivation. Additionally, race and locus of control were examined as moderators of this same relationship. Measures of study variables were surveys administered on-line to 170 female undergraduate students. Upon completion of this part of the study, participants were emailed a link for their supervisors to complete on-line measures of participants' overall motivation and performance at work. Results indicated that both overall motivation and action-to-result motivation connections were negatively related to perceived gender discrimination. However, other motivation connections were not related to this discrimination. Furthermore, overall motivation and the motivation connections had strong relationships with performance. Despite the practical significance of these relationships, they did not reach statistical significance because of the small sample size of supervisor performance ratings (n = 37). Neither race, work locus of control, or gender identification significantly moderated hypothesized relationships. Additionally, there was no significant relationship between discrimination and performance, and so work motivation could not mediate this relationship. Reasons for non-significant results are discussed, as are implications for theory and practice. Although moderator hypotheses were not supported, this research represents an important step in discrimination research because it examines the possible influence of perceived discrimination on those who are impacted by it. This study also reaffirms the relationship between motivation and performance using Pritchard and Ashwood's (2007) theory of motivation.

The purpose of this study was to determine if Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) certification of automotive service technicians in independent dealerships enhanced job performance. Descriptive survey methodology was used to gather information for 100 automotive technicians (50 ASE-certified and 50 non-certified technicians) located in 50 different work sites. Each site's service manager was asked to complete a questionnaire and a rating scale for two technicians, one ASE certified and one non-certified. The questionnaire was designed using expert opinions of automotive service managers and community college automotive instructors in the Triad area of North Carolina. The 28-item Minnesota Satisfactoriness Scales (MSS) were used to assess job satisfactoriness. Responses to 95 completed questionnaires and accompanying MSS were included in statistical analyses. The role of these variables in predicting ratings of job performance was further examined by including the regression analyses of only those who had four or less years of on-the-job experience. Among certified technicians, higher scale scores and longer years of experience positively predicted ratings of job performance, as well as decreased numbers of customer complaints. Overall, certified technicians had higher mean job performance ratings than non-certified technicians. Attendance and employee recognition did not significantly predict ratings of job performance in either category of technicians. Results indicated that the number of technicians receiving customer complaints was directly dependent on certification status. Variables such as awards and number of months of perfect attendance had minimal effect on both categories of technician job performance rating. / Ph. D.

A recent focus on understanding emotions in organizations has resulted in increased attention to the role of Emotional Intelligence (EI). Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a type of intelligence that helps individuals to perceive, assimilate, understand, and manage emotions (Mayer & Salovey, 1997). The aim of this study is to understand the role of EI on individual attitudinal and performance outcomes. Specifically, this paper argues that EI may be an important determinant of employee job satisfaction, turnover intention, and performance. Further, these effects are expected to be most pronounced in job functions with higher emotional requirements. Data collected from 278 law enforcement and healthcare employees provide no support for these propositions. These findings, their implications, and potential future studies are discussed. / Ph. D.

This study investigated the validity of scores of a workplace-based measure of mental toughness, the Mental Toughness Situational Judgment Test (MTSJT). The goal of the study was to determine if MTSJT scores predicted supervisor ratings 1) differentially compared to other measures of mental toughness, grit, and resilience, and 2) incrementally beyond cognitive ability and conscientiousness. Further, two machine learning algorithms – elastic nets and random forests – were used to model predictions at both the item and scale level. MTJST scores provided the most accurate predictions overall when model at the item level via a random forest approach. The MTSJT was the only measure to consistently provide incremental validity when predicting supervisor ratings. The results further emphasize the growing importance of both mental toughness and machine learning algorithms to industrial/organizational psychologists. / Doctor of Philosophy / The study investigated whether the Mental Toughness Situational Judgment Test (MTSJT)– a measure of mental toughness directly in the workplace, could predict employees' supervisor ratings. Further, the study aimed to understand if the MTSJT was a better predictor than other measures of mental toughness, grit, resilience, intelligence, and conscientiousness. The study used machine learning algorithms to generate predictive models using both question-level scores and scale-level scores. The results suggested that the MTSJT scores predicted supervisor ratings at both the question and scale level using a random forest model. Further, the MTJST was a better predictor than most other measures included in the study. The results emphasize the growing importance of both mental toughness and machine learning algorithms to industrial/organizational psychologists.

Twenty factors identified through a factor analysis of a 102-item biographical inventory were used as predictors in a multiple regression equation to predict on-the-job performance (supervisory ratings) of oil field employees. This yielded a multiple R of .41. A total of 295 subjects participated in the study. Cross-validation yielded a correlation coefficient of .06. The t-test analyses of the factor means of equipment operators and field mechanics proved that two factors could discriminate between the groups, Mechanical Experience (p<.01) and Social Orientation (p<.05). The results of this study indicate that conducting a factor analysis of unvalidated biographical items and attempting to predict performance would be less appropriate than factor analyzing predictive items to gain an understanding of their underlying dimensions.

Personality, as a frequently used predictor of job performance, has often been criticized for its low criterion-related validity when compared to cognitive tests and some other predictors. The present study investigated incremental validity of narrow-trait personality to distinguish predictive from non-predictive facets of Conscientiousness and Extraversion dimensions. In addition, some intermediate mechanisms that may link the two personality dimensions with the criterion, such as different types of person-environment (P-E) fit and job involvement variables, were tested as well. The institution's job performance scale, NEO-PI-3 personality scale, person-organization (P-O) fit, needs-supplies (N-S) fit, demands-abilities (D-A) fit, job involvement questionnaire (JIQ), and demographic measures were administered in an online survey to 295 professional and civil service employees of a midsize Midwestern university. The sample was predominantly female and Caucasian with a mean age of 45.8 years and a median length of current employment of 5.1 years. Both personality dimensions were positively related to overall job performance. Conscientiousness was a stronger predictor of task performance, whereas Extraversion was related more consistently to contextual performance. In stepwise multiple regression analyses containing facets of personality dimensions as predictors of overall job performance, Competence emerged as the only facet of Conscientiousness, and Warmth and Assertiveness as the only facets of Extraversion that accounted for a meaningful amount of variance in the criterion. The use of narrow-trait personality to predict overall job performance enhances criterion-related validity of the construct and renders it a more efficient predictor of job performance than global-trait personality. Among the potential mediators, P-O and D-A fit partially mediated the personality-performance relationship providing evidence for the importance of perceptions of congruence in values and the ability to meet demands of the job. Current results are considered in light of limitations. Implications for theory, research, and practice, as well as future research directions are discussed.

Compensation is a discretionary concept whose determinants may not necessarily be the same in all organisations. This study reports on the extent to which a limited number of determinants of compensation, as identified in this study, namely job performance, external equity, job families, organisational tenure and employee skill, predict employee compensation in an organisation. A convenience sample was drawn from the target population in the Gauteng area. Three small and medium-sized organisations were included in the sample, which consisted of a state-owned organisation in the aviation sector, a parastatal company in the finance development sector, and a private company in the banking sector. A categorical multiple regression analysis was conducted. The findings of this study reflect a greater consistency in four of the six variables as strong predictors of employee compensation, namely employee skill, employee performance, job family and job grade. These factors are strongly related to employee compensation and are regarded as strong predictors of it. The other predictors, namely external equity and tenure, can be considered to be of marginal significance as predictors of employee compensation. However, the results also indicate that these predictors may be more significant in state-owned and parastatal companies, in comparison to private companies. In addition, the determinants of employee compensation may also depend on the type and size of the organisation.

Much research has been undertaken to determine how Subject Matter Expert characteristics affect job analysis outcomes. The current study seeks to discover if performance levels are related to current incumbents ratings of their positions. A group of 114 corporate associates, from two administrative positions, served as Subject Matter Experts (SME) for this study. Separate job analyses for each position were conducted using the Job Analysis Task Checklist. The results for each job were analyzed to determine if SME performance levels affected job analysis outcomes. The results for both jobs showed that there were very few differences in job analysis results as a function of SME performance levels.

Five learning measures used in a skills training program were related to three types of job performance measures for a sample of 163 oil field employees. Statistical analyses resulted in only modest correlations between learning and job performance criteria. Factor analyses of learning measures followed by multiple regression on factors yielded a significant R with only one criterion measure. It was concluded from these data that the training program was of minimal value. The discussion centered on strategies for better training, training research, job engineering, and correcting the two limitations of this study.

In an effort to make documented and fair decisions on work‐related opportunities and career progressions, job performance has emerged as a pivotal Human Resource tool due to its link to quasi‐every career‐related decision in the organization. Indeed, differences in performance evaluations can influence a number of career advancement variables. Performance measurement differences can impart both pay and promotions (Roth, Purvis & Bobko, 2012), lead to lower levels of job satisfaction (Colquitt, Conlon, Wesson, Porter & Ng, 2001; King et al. 2010) and lower levels of perceived organizational justice (Colquitt et al. 2001; Motowidlo, 2003), which in turn break efforts to create a fair and balanced workplace. If within an organization allocation of bonuses, wages, responsibilities and promotions are partially or entirely determined by job performance evaluations, then job performance is likely to mediate the relationship between gender and career advancement, particularly for women in male dominated organizations.The centrality of job performance calls for scrutiny; as job performance has a potential to constitute a powerful mechanism in terms of its potential to marginalize and/or exclude women. Despite legislative and organizational efforts to alleviate gender inequality and shatter the glass ceiling, women are still disadvantaged in the labor market.In fact, women who have managed to enter male‐dominated organizations and occupations are still under‐represented and face numerous hurdles. Empirical evidence is plentiful on gender discrimination even when women are successful at their job (e.g. Parks‐Stamm et al. 2008, Heilman & Okimoto, 2007) and have secured positions in upper management (Heilman et al. 2004). However, little evidence is available on women’s experience of discrimination within the performance appraisal context and how existing job performance prototypes are affecting the perception of their work, including bias by other women.This dissertation is interested in filling that research gap and contributing to the body of knowledge on women’s experience in male‐dominated organizations. The potential of job performance having a marginalizing effect on women, in the sense of limiting women’s career opportunities, is examined with regard to women’s work experience and how women themselves can perpetuate their marginal position in the workplace. The intent is to reveal the mechanisms upholding and reinforcing the glass ceiling and gender inequity in the workplace.Based on the literature review and identified knowledge gaps two lines of enquiry have emerged and will be investigated in this dissertation:-  How job performance functions as a mean of (re)producing gender inequality in male dominated organizations and occupations by its gendered character-  How women in male‐dominated organizations can be participants in maintaining inequality by relying on gender stereotype expectations to evaluate their job performance and that of other female colleagues.In order to grasp and address the complexity of the potentially gendered character of job performance the dissertation takes on a multidisciplinary approach.The dissertation is divided into two main parts. The first part comprising chapters 1 to 3 reviews the current literature on women’s experience in male‐dominated organizations. These chapters provide the theoretical framework for the research contributions, presented as essays in part two of the dissertation. Chapter 1 presents a literature review depicting the situation of women in the European labor market and the persistent horizontal and vertical segregation. The specificities of token women (less than 15% representation; Kanter, 1977a) in male dominated organizations and the impact of tokenism on women’s job performance are discussed.Chapter 2 details gender stereotypes and explicates their direct impact on the assessment of women’s work and job performance. This chapter argues the case for genders stereotypes as the leading social psychological mechanisms impeding the perception of women’s work as being equivalent to that of men. Perceived incongruity between gender stereotype attributes gives rise to expectations on women’s performance, generally, that they will perform poorly in male‐typed occupations (Heilman, 1983, 1995, 2001). This can therefore penalize women in their career paths and become significant barriers to their social and economic opportunities. In fact, stereotype beliefs about attitudes, characteristics and roles of women and men influence the evaluation process and constitute the backbone of the analysis of this dissertation.Chapter 3 explores the existing literature on women’s participation in biased evaluation of themselves and other women. Women’s roles as evaluators as well as their self‐ perception as performers is outlined in relation to the way they can maintain and reinforce gendered performance norms. Building on system justification theory, this chapter highlights the complexity of gender inequality in organizations and seeks to acknowledge internalized and often unconscious gender biases at work.Subsequent to the literature review of part one, part two (chapters 4 to 8) presents the research contributions of the dissertation, namely the mechanisms, which maintain and reinforce gender inequality in male dominated organizations. Chapters 4 to 5 outline the investigations into the research enquiries posited. Each chapter of part two constitutes an independent essay highlighting through various analytical lenses the complexity of marginalization through job performance. In line with a multidisciplinary approach, the essays presented in chapters 4 and 5 are of a theoretical nature whereas chapters 6, 7 and 8 comprise empirical studies.Chapter 4 sets out to investigate the potential gendered character of job performance and the legitimating effects of meritocracy as the ideological framework, which informs each stage of job performance; from setting the criteria to using performance evaluation information to distribute organizational goods. The major contribution of this chapter is to bring forth the way in which performance and merit intertwine to perpetuate mechanisms of inequality and invalidate contestation at each stage of job performance. Gender‐blind and merit‐based HR (Human Resources) processes such as performance are rarely put to question and revealed as inherently biased themselves. The findings call for a critique of meritocracy on a systemic level as well as the implementation of an outcome‐oriented approach to job performance evaluations and reward allocation.Chapter 5 applies and extends social identity theory to explain the underrepresentation and marginalized position of women in European academia. The chapter illustrates the extent to which the Leading Academic Performer (LAP) is based on male characteristics and therefore contributes to the marginalization of female academics. This chapter endeavors to further the theoretical underpinnings by proposing an applicable taxonomy of social identity theory performance (Klein, Spears & Reicher, 2007). The chapter illustrates how social identities can be strategically performed to enhance the perception of female academics as leading academic performers.Chapter 6 and chapter 7 are contributions based on an empirical study using a social psychological experiment methodology, involving 163 Master students (Business major) from a Belgian university. The objective of the study was two fold. Chapter 6 investigated the standards and criteria used to evaluate male versus female job performance. Chapter 7 looked at how female and male evaluators differed in their evaluations and how they perceived the value of their evaluative work when evaluating a woman versus a man.More specifically, in chapter 6 participants were asked to evaluate the job performance of a randomly assigned female or male IT manager and to decide on whether they should retain their position. Major findings of this study show that not only did evaluators (regardless of their gender) automatically assign female IT managers higher interpersonal skills, thereupon confirming the use of stereotype beliefs, but they also used double standards to decide the retention of the female employee. When it came to female employees, their retention decision was directly linked to their performance evaluation. This was not the case for male employees. Other standards outside of job performance were used to retain the male employee. In addition, results reveal that female evaluators systematically gave lower ratings than their male counterparts. The results in this study show that both men and women evaluators not only use similar norms to evaluate but are also harsher when evaluating female performance.Chapter 7 explores the evaluators’ perceived entitlement in regards to the task of evaluating the job performance of a man versus that of a woman. Contrary to previous research on the depressed entitlement effect (i.e. phenomenon where by women underpay themselves relative to men but are just as satisfied with their employment situation as men) in this study, all evaluators, men and women expressed an elevated sense of entitlement when appraising the performance of a female worker. Evaluators assessing a woman’s job performance felt that they deserved 19,64% more (monetary reward) compared to those evaluating a man’s job performance. Interestingly, evaluators who gave high interpersonal skill ratings exhibited a depressed entitlement effect. It would seem that focusing on female associated skills gives evaluators the perception that this work is less worthy. Both chapters 6 and 7 highlight the gendered character of evaluating performance and point to the difficulty evaluators might have in evaluating female job performance. Equally, the findings support the claim that women themselves participate in system‐maintaining mechanisms that stress communality injunctions on female workers.Chapter 8 presents a study, using qualitative methodology, conducted in a Belgian subsidiary of a multinational IT corporation. The study is based on semi‐structured interviews with 32 managers and employees across organizational departments. The aim is to highlight job performance expectations and to render visible criteria thought to be best predictive of good employee performance. To bring forth existing yet hidden gendered elements in the discourse on job performance, gender subtext was chosen as the analytical tool. Gender subtext analysis allows for an understanding of how seemingly gender‐blind language is in fact embedded with gendered meanings. Results of this fieldwork support the analysis in previous chapters: Job performance expectations perpetuates a prototype of the exemplary performer as masculine, thereby forcing the few token women to position themselves in masculine terms or risk increased marginalization from deviating the dominant management style. Finally, a section of the chapter is dedicated to analyze how women do work in their predominately male dominated organization and how this could lead to perpetuating masculine norms of performance.A general discussion concludes the dissertation and analyses the findings (i.e. the four mechanisms that have been identified, which reinforce the glass ceiling and maintain gender inequality through job performance). Overall, the investigations into the research enquiries have revealed the gendered and thus biased character of job performance. If within an organization, androcentric job performance criteria and evaluations are partially or entirely used to determine the allocation of bonuses, wages, responsibilities and promotions, then job performance constitutes a powerful gendered mechanism legitimating and maintaining gender inequalities. Each essay in part two has examined and brought to light the (re)production of gender inequality in male dominated organizations and occupations through job performance. By using a multidisciplinary approach, the theoretical analyses presented, is consolidated the laboratory experiments and fieldwork. Equally, the role of women in maintaining gendered performance norms by relying on gender stereotypes, albeit unconsciously, is uncovered. The participation of women themselves in maintaining and reproducing the status quo limits the possibilities for contestation and hinders attempts at transformation towards more gender equity. To conclude, the chapter proposes practical recommendations alleviate contributing mechanisms behind the glass ceiling. / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished