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Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Ronald G. Downey / Job engagement is an emerging psychological construct that purports to measure individuals' level of psychological presence at work. The concept has received attention in both the academic literature and in industry. In the academic literature three measures of engagement exist that were examined in this research (Schaufeli, Britt, & Shirom). However, engagement has undergone little critical examination beyond factor analyses. This research sought to critically examine the concept of engagement as well as provide empirical evidence regarding its place in the nomological network of job attitudes. Both theoretically and empirically, engagement has been linked to personality and leadership variables; however, no research to date has attempted to examine all three concepts together. This research additionally sought to link engagement, personality, and leadership in a theoretically based model. Participants (N=382) at mid-sized financial institution completed a survey comprised of demographic items, attitude measures, a leadership measure, and a personality measure. Results indicated that the Schaufeli and Britt measures of engagement substantially overlap with job satisfaction and affective commitment; however, the Shirom measure (called vigor) is not redundant with job satisfaction or affective commitment. Hypothetical models of engagement, personality, and leadership were not good fits with the data; however, two modified models (one with Schaufeli's engagement and one with Shirom's vigor) had marginally acceptable fits. Further, hierarchical regressions indicated a strong connection between engagement and leadership and between engagement and personality. It seems that every so often a "new" concept comes along that offers organizations prosperity with little cost. Engagement is a popular and positive concept that is appealing to both practitioners and academics. Engagement, as a construct, is not a silver bullet for organizations. However, engagement or vigor may be a useful concept for organizations as both a selection instrument and as a way to assess the relative states of fulfillment of employees, groups, and organizations. Future directions for research and recommendations are discussed.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Clive J. A. Fullagar / Student engagement has become an important way of assessing student outcomes for college and is used to provide information to accreditation agencies, for internal accountability as well as to assess impact of college on students. However, current measures of student engagement do not assess the core process underlying student engagement, instead focusing on antecedents and consequences of engagement. The current research addressed this gap by first developing a new measure of student engagement called SAENS (Student Academic ENgagement Scale), which is strongly grounded in theory derived from the work engagement literature. Two dimensions of engagement were found: enjoyment and effort. A second study validated this measure by forming a nomological net of relationships with other variables and testing these antecedents and consequences of engagement. Results indicated that engagement effort is strongly related to student grades for their classes and the dimension of enjoyment is related to the teaching style of collaborative learning. However, engagement was not related to students’ levels of critical thinking.

Master of Science / Department of Psychology / Satoris S. Culbertson / Prior research has suggested there are negative consequences for missing work for both the individual and the organization. These consequences, such as lower ratings of performance, may exist regardless of the reason for the absence, and may be influenced to some extent by stereotypes held by others, such as supervisors and coworkers. The purpose of this study was to determine if absence from work for a stereotypically male or female task would affect supervisor and coworker ratings of performance, organizational commitment, and likelihood of performing organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). It was expected that workers who violated a gender role stereotype (males missing work for a stereotypically feminine task or females missing work for a stereotypically masculine task) would be sanctioned by supervisors and coworkers through lower ratings of performance, lower ratings of perceived organizational commitment, and lower ratings of the likelihood of performing OCBs than those who did not miss work or who missed work without violating a gender role stereotype. One hundred and seventy-four undergraduate psychology students at a large Midwestern university read descriptions of employee performance and attendance and then rated the employee’s performance and perceived organizational commitment and likelihood of performing both altruism and generalized compliance OCBs. Results revealed that an absence from work resulted in lower ratings of all four criteria, but that the interaction between the employee’s gender and reason for absence (i.e., whether they violated a gender role stereotype) had no effect. Implications and future directions are discussed.

No abstract available / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

The purpose of this thesis was to determine if culture was a significant determinate of commitment to one's work organization. The second objective was to develop a work commitment index that was not only comprehensive but minimized redundancy. This work commitment index contained items measuring values and traits associated with the Protestant Work Ethic, Job Involvement, and Organizational Commitment. A T-Test analysis indicated no significant differences in the levels of protestant work ethic or job involvement possessed by hispanic and white soldiers. Only in organizational commitment were levels significantly different, but multiple regression analysis did not support this difference after controlling for other variables. Some progress was made in the development of a comprehensive work commitment index that minimized redundancy. The theories used in this index are capturing three different facets of work commitment. There still exists some redundancy and overlap within and between measures, but at less excessive levels.