This study investigated the relationship between turnover and personality measures through the application of discriminant analysis in a split sample cross validation design. Four personality tests measuring 34 dimensions of personality were administered to 300 Caucasian male job applicants. The tests were the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation-Behavior, the Vocational Preference Inventory, a shortened version of the DF-Opinion Survey, and the Guilford Zimmerman Temperament Survey. Ten of the dimensions were initially found to be significantly related to turnover. The shrinkage of the coefficient after cross validation was enough for the loss of statistical significance. It is suggested that personality measures are moderately associated with turnover and that investigations examining methods to reduce turnover should focus on other variables.

The significance of relationships on economic actions and employee behaviour makes it critical for employers to understand the dynamics of employment through mutual obligations (Rousseau, 1990; Guest, 2004b). The psychological contract affords a broad platform to study the employment relationship (Thomas et al., 2010), and is an important tool for organisational success (McDermott et al., 2013). The literature review contained in this study indicates the differences in contracting environments due to the prevailing cultural orientation. However, there is a dearth of research in collectivistic culture, to which this study will add. The literature also makes a distinction between perceptions of breach and violation. While perceptions of breach of the psychological contract is the perception that the employer has not met all obligations and promises, violation is the emotional and affective state following breach (Morrison & Robinson, 1997) and results in negative or deviant behaviours (Chiu & Peng, 2008). Both breach and violation perceptions negatively affect employee behaviours and attitudes in the workplace (Aggarwal & Bhargava, 2014). This research assumed a constructivist paradigm and builds understanding of the outcomes of breach and violation of the psychological contract on employees’ working life in a collectivistic environment. Primary data collection was by in-depth semi-structured, one on one interviews with five employees of a state-subsidised organisation in East London, making use of convenience sampling. Follow up interviews were conducted, resulting in 7ₑ/₄ hours of interviewing time. Cultural orientation was ascertained through the use of a questionnaire. The findings of this study confirmed that the type of psychological contract entered into influences the outcomes of perceptions of breach and violation. Both dimensions of collectivism, namely institutional and in-group, were practised in this environment, which also impacted on both the individual’s experience and outcomes for the organisation. The latter was influenced by commitment to organisational goals and supervisory or collegial relationships. Most notable of the results is the effect of expectations of transitional justice on experience of the psychological contract. Practical implications and recommendations for future research are made. This research is presented in three sections; firstly the research is presented in the format of an academic paper and includes a concise summary of literature and research method. The second section is an expanded literature review of the psychological contract and its influencing factors, as well as the outcomes of breach and violation. The last section describes and justifies in detail the design of the research and the research procedure followed. / Alternate name: Van der Merwe, Somine

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This study tested the job satisfaction of major market radio station general managers in the aftermath of deregulation. The study consisted of two phases, a quantitative, anonymous, mail survey utilizing the nationally recognized Job Descriptive Index (JDI); and a qualitative follow-up telephone interview. Of 246 general managers solicited, 144 returned usable JDI surveys. The JDI consisted of six separate scales, each measuring satisfaction on a different aspect of the job. The followup telephone interview comprised seven questions designed specifically to explore the effects of broadcast deregulation on the respondents. Two hypotheses were tested. The hypotheses tested for differences in job satisfaction scores between radio station general managers and the normative scores of individuals of similar education and job tenure in other industries. In most of the subscales tested there was no significant difference between the two groups. The qualitative telephone survey found widespread dissatisfaction with the effects of deregulation on the broadcast medium.

This research examines impression management strategies high-ranking organizational executives employ to create an identity for themselves and their companies via executive authored Weblogs (blogs). This study attempts to identify specific patterns of impression management strategies through a deductive content analysis applying Jones’ (1990) taxonomy of self-presentation strategies to this particular type of computer mediated communication. Sampling for this study (n=227) was limited to blogs solely and regularly authored by the highest-ranking leaders of Fortune 500 companies. The study revealed that executive bloggers frequently employed impression management strategies aimed at currying competency attributes (self-promotion), likeability (ingratiation), and moral worthiness (exemplification) to construct and shape a positive identify for themselves and their organization for their publics. Supplication strategies were used less frequently, while intimidation strategies were rarely used.

This dissertation aims to develop a grounded theory explaining how Chinese stock investors construct risk through their communication practices. Many of the previous studies attribute the risk in the stock market to greedy or unprofessional investors who speculate in stocks. In order to explore this topic further, this dissertation applies a grounded theory approach to develop a detailed local case showing the communication practices of Shanghai investors with respect to stock investment. By examining how investors produce meanings of risk and the relevant risk positions, the dissertation explains why investors keep speculating in the stock market. It uses interviews with 35 investors, in-depth interviews with 12 investors, and on-site observations of four stock exchange halls, investors’ home and working places in Shanghai from 2012 to 2014. The findings show that the investors consider risk to be the uncertainties about the accuracy of the information and the speed by which it is obtained. Ideally, they would obtain public information, make sense of public information professionally, and then generate directional information on which they can base their stock trades. However, with the devaluation of public information due to the corrupt social system, investors are forced to communicate more accurate information in a private way to position themselves to have a privileged risk position, which produces certainties for them but uncertainty for others. The belief in professionalism is eroded through the surge in demand for insider information based on interpersonal relations (guanxi). Because of the lack of insurance and security when circulating information privately, investors have shifted away from long-term stock investments to speculate in stocks. Although the mechanism of stock speculation produces risk for almost all investors, they still produce and reproduce this mechanism. The reason for this is that these investors are trapped in a paradox of risk and security without realizing that their practices to produce security are in fact producing uncertainties for them. / 本論文研究上海的股票投資者是怎樣在傳播實踐中構建風險的意義的。很多研究將金融風險歸咎於投資者的貪婪或不專業的過度投機行為。為了進一步研究這一課題，本論文採取紮根理論的研究方法，構建一個詳實的關於上海投資者傳播實踐的案例。由此，本論文研究了當地投資者怎樣通過傳播實踐構建風險的意義以及不同的風險處境，並由此對投資者進行投機行為進行理論性的闡釋。本論文的數據收集時間為2012年至2014年，其中主要包括對4所上海的投資交易大廳的實地觀察，對35個投資者的訪談，以及12個深入訪談以及追踪觀察。研究發現，投資者將風險與對信息的正確性以及傳播速度的不確定性相關聯。理想狀態下，投資者通過獲取公共信息，專業解讀信息以將其轉化為導向性的信息，之後進行股票交易。然而，由於腐敗等問題，各類公共信息都產生了貶值，投資者被迫用更私人的方式傳播更準確的信息，以使自己能處於有利地位，並將對信息的確定性建立在其他投資者對信息的不確定性之上。專業主義被瓦解了，取而代之的是建立在人際關係之上的對內幕消息的傳播。投資者們也從專業的、長期的投資專為短期的投機。而那些處於不利地位的投資者所面臨的不確定性亦將反過來加諸於有利地位的投資者之上。儘管投機的體系將風險加諸於幾乎所有投資者之上，投資者仍繼續投機行為。本論文認為其原因是投資者被困於“風險矛盾”之中——投資者通過實踐來尋求保障，未曾意識到其實踐造成了自己乃至於經濟體系更大的風險。 / Mao, Zhifei. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2015. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 203-222). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on 15, September, 2016). / Detailed summary in vernacular field only.

Understanding temporal relations among posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom dimensions has received increasing attention in research. However, current findings in this area are limited by group-level approaches, which are based on inter-individual variation. PTSD is a heterogeneous syndrome and symptoms are likely to vary across individuals and time. Thus, it is important to examine temporal relations among PTSD symptom dimensions as dynamic processes and at the level of intra-individual variation. The aim of the present study was to capture temporal dynamics among PTSD symptom dimensions at an individual level using unified structural equation modeling (uSEM). World Trade Center (WTC) 9/11 responders (N = 202) oversampled for current PTSD (18.3% met criteria in past month) were recruited from the Long Island site of the WTC health program. Using ecological momentary assessment (EMA), PTSD symptoms were assessed three times a day over seven consecutive days. The person-specific temporal relations among PTSD symptom dimensions were estimated with individual-level uSEM. For the sample as a whole, hyperarousal played a key role in driving the other three symptom dimensions longitudinally, with the strongest effect in intrusive symptoms. However, daily temporal relations among PTSD symptoms were idiosyncratic. Although hyperarousal was a strong predictor of subsequent symptom severity, only 33.95% of the sample showed this predictive effect while others showed more evident temporal relations between intrusion and avoidance. Implications for personalized health care and recommendations for future research using individual-level uSEM in psychopathology are discussed.

Organisations and job content will continually change irrespective of the employee or job context. The ability to understand, initiate and manage change is therefore, an essential skill for any change agent. The general aim of this research was to investigate the impact of change management on role conflict, role ambiguity and job satisfaction. "Change management", "role conflict", "role ambiguity" and "job satisfaction" were conceptualised. This change process was described and the effect of change management on role conflict, role ambiguity and job satisfaction was determined. Instruments for measuring these concepts were administered among 116 employees who have been subjected to extensive organisational change within a large transport organisation. It was found that change management has a significant impact on role conflict, role ambiguity and job satisfaction. The change management process used in this research potentially enables Human Resources managers and change agents to reduce role conflict, role ambiguity and job satisfaction during large scale organisation change. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.Comm. (Industrial Psychology)

Some chapters have bibliographical references at the end of the chapter / Strategic recruitment and retention efforts improve the capacity of a research unit in delivering outputs such as collaborative research, increased grant funding and peer-reviewed journal articles (Chung, Clifton, Rowe, Finley, & Warnock, 2009). At the same time, knowledge of employees’ experiences can help organisations improve HRM strategies and practices. In this regard, the motivation driving this study was that exploring the recruitment and retention experiences of staff in a university research unit could reveal significant insights that could assist in refining the organisation’s HRM practices, thereby facilitating attraction and retention of valuable talent. This qualitative study was designed from an interpretive paradigm and a constructivist perspective in order to facilitate the exploration and understanding of employees’ subjective experiences. Findings indicate that professional development, organisational appeal and networking opportunities make this research unit an employer of choice. These factors, among others, are both attractors and incentives to remain with the organisation which significantly outweigh factors that discourage attraction and retention. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Organisations are always confronted with the need to transform in order to adapt to environmental changes and have a competitive advantage. The concern is that when an organisation embarks on a transformation process, its individual employees are affected either positively or negatively. Employees can respond to transformation change by either being satisfied or dissatisfied in the organisation. The main aim of this research was to develop a diagnostic model for measuring employee satisfaction during organisational transformation. The first construct of organisational transformation was conceptualised using the open system paradigm, theoretical definitions and models of organisational change. In this study, organisational transformation is second order and drastic in the sense that it alters the way in which the organisation functions and relates to the external environment focusing on the vision, processes, systems, structure and culture. It is the fundamental and constant change at all levels of the organisation caused by external factors posing as risks for organisational survival. vi The second construct of employee satisfaction was conceptualised focusing on the humanistic paradigm, theoretical definitions and models. Employee satisfaction in this study is the individual’s positive emotional state of contentment stemming from the organisation’s ability to meet his or her needs and expectations based on his or her experience and evaluation of various organisational processes and practices. It influences employees’ performance and commitment to the organisation. A theoretical model was developed as a framework to enable organisations to diagnose or assess their employees’ satisfaction during organisational transformation. The model highlighted dimensions essential to diagnose employee satisfaction such as organisational strategy, policies and processes and outcomes, in order to determine employees’ contentment and fulfilment in the organisation. The main aim of the empirical research was to conduct a three year longitudinal study of employee satisfaction during organisational transformation; to operationalise the conceptually developed diagnostic model of employee satisfaction during transformation; and develop a structural equation model (SEM) in order to test the theoretical model. The Employee Satisfaction Survey (ESS) was used in 2003, 2007 and 2008 to measure employee satisfaction. The initial year of the study (2003) comprised 1 140 participants who voluntarily completed the measuring instrument. The second year of the study (2007) involved 920 participants, while the final year of the study (2008) included 759 participants. In terms of the reliability and validity of the ESS, it was determined that in the three years of the study, most of the dimensions had acceptable internal consistency reliability based on the results of the Cronbach alpha test. The SEM investigated the impact of organisational strategy, policies and procedures and outcomes as the three domains of employee satisfaction during organisational transformation. The confirmatory factor analysis of the latent variables was conducted, and the path coefficients of the latent variables of organisational strategy, policies and processes and outcomes indicated a satisfactory fit for all these variables. The goodness-of-fit measure of the model indicated both absolute and incremental goodness-of-fit. The SEM confirmed the causal relationships between the latent and manifest variables, indicating that the latent variables, organisational vii strategy, policies and procedures and outcomes are the main indicators of employee satisfaction. This research adds to the field of organisational behaviour by proposing a model of employee satisfaction during organisational transformation. The domains of this model should enable organisations to identify developmental areas based on employees’ dissatisfaction or areas of strengths based on employees’ satisfaction. The diagnostic model will also enable organisations and practitioners to initiative interventions aimed at addressing areas of dissatisfaction as developmental areas and to leverage on its strengths as areas of satisfaction in the organisation. / Industrial & Organisational Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology