The aim of this thesis is to investigate how presenteeism research can be reconciled with positive psychology through exploring the relationship between organizational attendance pressure-and adjustment norms, work engagement and presenteeism. The working model this thesis uses to look at this adapts the job demands–resources (JD-R) model to predict whether workers will choose to exhibit presenteeism or be absent in the context of Johns’s dynamic model of presenteeism and absenteeism (2010). Participants were 280 workers from a wide variety of sectors who answered a questionnaire that asked about their psychosocial work environment. The design was cross-sectional. Covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) was used to test the hypotheses. The results suggest that the motivational process of the JD-R model does not explain presenteeism to a statistically significant degree. However, the positive relationship between organizational adjustment norms and work engagement was significantly greater for workers with a high level of perceived organizational attendance pressure norms versus those who perceived it to be low. This thesis concludes that how presenteeism is measured and from what sectors workers are recruited to be respondents may influence the results and interpretations of it. Future research that investigates the relationship between work engagement and presenteeism may be warranted for finding new ways of measuring presenteeism and to recruit respondents who work in places where presenteeism is less likely to be perceived as negative for their health (e.g.,knowledge workers in universities).

This program of research investigated the harmful effects of mistreatment by the workgroup, and the role of perceived rejection as a critical mediator linking mistreatment and outcomes. This research program had three primary purposes. First, the research aimed to examine the important role of workgroup mistreatment as an independent predictor of negative outcomes, over and above the influence of supervisor mistreatment. Second, the research aimed to examine the effect of perceived rejection as an explanatory variable linking workgroup mistreatment and outcomes. Finally, the moderating effect of organizational norms on the relationship between workgroup mistreatment and perceived rejection was examined. The relationships of interest were examined over four studies, using multiple methods of data collection, across part-time and full-time working samples. In Study 1 (Chapter 2), the independent role of workgroup mistreatment and the mediating role of perceived rejection were examined. One hundred and forty two part-time working participants took part in the study. The participants completed a questionnaire on workplace behaviors in their organizations. The results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed a strong harmful effect of workgroup mistreatment, independent of mistreatment by the supervisor. In addition, the results showed that perceived rejection fully mediated the relationship between workgroup mistreatment and depression and organizational based self esteem. The study highlighted that perceived rejection acts as a key underlying psychological mechanism involved in the effect of workgroup mistreatment. This study has been published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. Study 2 and Study 3 were presented as one paper in Chapter 3. The aims of these two studies was to explore the effects of workgroup mistreatment on a wider range of individual and organizational level outcomes, and to provide further evidence of the mediating role of perceived rejection as observed in Study 1. The results from both studies demonstrated that workgroup mistreatment had a significant and independent role in predicting negative individual and organizational level outcomes, providing support for the findings of Study 1. In the first study, 189 participants received scenarios manipulating workgroup mistreatment and supervisor mistreatment. The results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that workgroup mistreatment harmfully affected participants, over and above that of the supervisor. The results also demonstrated that perceived rejection mediated the positive relationships between workgroup mistreatment and depression and organizational deviance, and also the negative relationships between workgroup mistreatment and organizational based self esteem and organizational citizenship behaviors. The second study included an additional aim, to examine the moderating role of supportive organizational norms. Two hundred and twenty nine participants read scenarios that manipulated workgroup mistreatment, supervisor mistreatment and organizational norms. The results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed the significant harmful effects of workgroup mistreatment, over and above the influence of supervisor mistreatment. The results also revealed the mediating role of perceived rejection. The direct effect of positive organizational norms also emerged, consistent with previous research. In addition, the result revealed that employees who experienced supportive organizational norms were more likely to reconcile with their workgroup members after experiencing mistreatment compared to employees who experienced hostile organizational norms. Finally, an unexpected pattern on the key affective variables of depression and organizational based self esteem emerged, such that mistreatment led to more negative outcomes in the supportive norms condition than in the hostile condition, where employees appeared to be desensitized. This paper is currently under review at the Journal of Applied Social Psychology. In Study 4 (Chapter 4), the overall model of workplace mistreatment was tested on a sample of full-time workers in an applied setting. One hundred and seventy two adults took part in the study. Participants were required to evaluate their workplace regarding mistreatment and organizational norms and to report their own psychological, behavioral and organizational outcomes. The results revealed that workgroup mistreatment was associated with increased depression, stress and avoidance, over and above supervisor mistreatment. In addition, the results revealed that perceived rejection acted as an explanatory variable linking workgroup mistreatment to a number of outcomes. Furthermore, the moderating role of hostile organizational norms emerged on depression, stress, reconciliation and avoidance. This paper is currently under review at the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. Overall, the four studies provided empirical support for the majority of the hypotheses. The effects were demonstrated for a range of psychological, behavioral, and organizational level outcomes, using multiple methods of data collection, across part-time and full-time workers. At the conclusion of the thesis (Chapter 5), an overall summary is provided of the findings across all four studies, practical and theoretical implications and research directions.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Workers who request a flexible schedule to accommodate their biologically-determined sleep-wake cycle (chronotype) may face prejudice if supervisors perceive them, particularly “night owls”, as lazy or unconscientious. Such bias may be exacerbated in organizational cultures characterized by stability and control. Thus, chronotype bias was examined in a 2 (rigid vs. flexible organizational norms) X 3 (morningness chronotype, eveningness chronotype, educational pursuit/control as reason for a flexible schedule request) online scenario study. Participants were recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk (N=398) and were instructed to act as managers to decide whether to approve a fictitious employee’s request for a flexible schedule. Organizational culture and reason for schedule request were orthogonally manipulated in the scenarios. Ps completed measures of schedule approval (including an open-ended justification item), beliefs about the employee’s performance (job-specific task performance, contextual performance, personal discipline, and conscientiousness), and manipulation checks, as well as measures of their own chronotype. Ps were less likely to approve a flexible schedule request for employees with chronotype-based requests (both morningness and eveningness) compared to control (educational pursuit/control request). Task performance beliefs mediated the effect. Organizational norms had both a direct and moderating effect on schedule approval, such that approval was higher and chronotype bias was weakened in the flexible norm condition compared to the rigid norm condition. Ps’ own chronotype had no direct or moderating effect on schedule approval. Qualitative content analysis of Ps’ justification for the schedule approval decision revealed that Ps justified their decision on the impact of schedule approval on the organization.

Incivility is a common form of low-grade aggression that lacks a clear intent to harm, that violates community norms and values for interpersonal conduct, and is often chronic in nature (Andersson & Pearson, 1999; Cortina, Magley, Williams, & Langhout, 2001). Because of its subtleties, it is difficult at times to detect and even more difficult to prevent. However, it is an essential phenomenon to research, due to its ubiquity and negative impact on worker outcomes such as job satisfaction and psychological health (Cortina et al., 2001). Incivility instigated by those in authority may be an even bigger problem, due to victims’ fear of retaliation in the event that they choose to report the incivility (Estes & Wang, 2008). Furthermore, as the global economy shrinks and intercultural interactions become the rule rather than the exception, the norms for “good interpersonal conduct” become blurred, leading to even greater and more frequent incivility (Milam, Spitzmueller, & Penney, 2009; Pearson & Porath, 2005). Yet while it logically follows that incivility may be defined differently across different cultures, little research has been done on this topic. Furthermore, it is unclear how to “fix” the incivility problem in the workplace. Pearson and Porath (2005) suggested that organizational norms strongly endorsing civility could mitigate the occurrence of workplace incivility. The purpose of this research is to test the effects of internal cultural values and external group norms on perceptions of and reactions to leader incivility in a group setting. To test this, I manipulated leader incivility, cultural values, and group civility norms in a laboratory setting. Participants were exposed to a cultural value prime in which they were primed to endorse either high or low power distance values. Then, in a group setting, participants were presented with either a pro-civility or neutral group norm, and proceeded to engage in a group iv discussion with a confederate leader. This confederate leader was inconspicuously selected from among the participants and followed a script in which he consistently engaged in incivility towards both group members while conducting the group discussion. After completing the group discussion, the leader left for leader training and the participants engaged in an interdependent business simulation. At periodic segments throughout the experiment, I assessed participants’ affective states as well as their perceptions of interactional justice and intragroup conflict. Regression analyses generally supported hypotheses regarding the moderating effect of values on perceptions of and reactions to incivility. Power distance predicted individuals’ assessment of justice in the face of leader incivility; the interaction effect of power distance values and civility norms approached (but did not achieve) significance. Justice perceptions were strongly negatively correlated with participants’ experience of anger; anger was found to mediate the relationship between participants’ justice assessments (when the leader was present) and their perceptions of intragroup conflict (when the leader was absent). Power distance values and civility norms both moderated the relationship between anger and individual-level perception of intragroup conflict. At the group level of analysis, relationship conflict negatively predicted group performance, but task conflict positively predicted group performance, when there were pro-civility norms in place. These findings have implications for diverse organizations attempting to promote justice, harmony, and civility within their organizations. Incivility is a nuanced phenomenon and one that is perceived and responded to differently across individuals. Cultural values play a role, but so do organizational norms. Future research is needed to explore further the interactive effects of cultural values and organizational norms, and how organizations can leverage these to prevent the occurrence and negative consequences of workplace incivility.

L’objectif principal de ce mémoire est d’identifier les antécédents organisationnels de la supervision abusive. Alors, un modèle intégrant la culture organisationnelle a été élaboré. Les données primaires recueillies par l’Équipe de Recherche sur le Travail et la Santé Mentale (l’ERTSM) auprès de 2162 employés de 63 établissements au Québec de septembre 2009 à mai 2012 ont permis de tester nos hypothèses. Les analyses multiniveaux réalisées corroborent une relation significative entre la culture organisationnelle et la supervision abusive. Les résultats ont montré que la culture de performance est positivement reliée à la supervision abusive contrairement à la culture de relations sociales. Aussi, ces analyses révèlent que certains subordonnés seraient plus enclins à rapporter de la supervision abusive que d´autres. Enfin, d’autres caractéristiques organisationnelles comme la taille de l’établissement pourraient être associées à la supervision abusive. / The main objective of this thesis is to identify the organizational antecedents of abusive supervision. A model incorporating organizational culture was thus developed. The data collected by l’Équipe de Recherche sur le Travail et la Santé Mentale (l’ERTSM) with 2162 employees from 63 organizations located in Quebec from September 2009 to May 2012 was used to test our hypotheses. The linear multilevel models supported a significant relationship between organizational culture and abusive supervision. The results suggest that the performance culture positively affects abusive supervision. In contrast, the social relations culture is negatively related to abusive supervision. Also, these analyzes revealed that some employees are more likely to report abusive supervision. Finally, other organizational characteristics such as the organization's size are associated with abusive supervision.

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