The exploration of African American adolescents' career development has gained increasing attention in light of literature describing various barriers impacting their educational and career development and goals. Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) was used as a theoretical framework to help shed light on the contextual factors that influence their career development. This study examined the relationship between career decision self-efficacy, ethnic identity, academic self-concept, and achievement of African American high school students. The sample consisted of African American high school students enrolled in Upward Bound programs. Through quantitative methods, this study adds to the career development literature by including ethnic identity, academic self-concept, and achievement as combined factors that may impact the career development of African American adolescents. Specifically, the results of this study assists teachers, administrators, parents, and school counselors with understanding career decision self-efficacy as it relates to ethnic identity, academic self-concept, achievement, and demographic variables. This study also provides implications for career counseling interventions in schools designed to assist with career development.

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Employee satisfaction has been found to have a strong relationship with perceived job security. This study explored job insecurity in an unstable global economy. Specifically, it examined internal attributes of employees, hypothesizing that such attributes would enable employees to better cope with work-related stressors such as job insecurity. Specific attributes of personality and employability were assessed as potential moderators of job satisfaction and security, utilizing the theory of work adjustment and person-environment correspondence as theoretical frameworks. The specific attributes included facets of conscientiousness and neuroticism as well as dispositions of employability including openness to change at work, work and career resilience, work and career proactivity, career motivation, and work identity. Multiple regression tests analyzed the relationship between these internal attributes and both job insecurity and satisfaction on a convenience sample of 100 participants from 2 companies. Participants completed online assessments of the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire; the NEO Personality Inventory, 3rd edition (NEO-PI-3); and the Dispositional Measure of Employability. The findings of this study showed significant relationships between both work and career resiliency and vulnerability and both job satisfaction and perceived job security. Employees, employers, and future researchers may benefit from the findings. Results suggest options for improving the work environment by enabling employees to derive greater satisfaction and security and by providing employers areas for training opportunities. Additionally, future research could explore methodologies, such as mindfulness and cognitive appraisal, which may further increase resiliency and decreasing vulnerability.

Exposure to traumatic situations is routine for child welfare workers in California, and the attrition rate for newly hired social workers in some states is estimated to be nearly 50% in the 1st year of employment. Prior research has indicated that reasons for dissatisfaction included dysfunctional organizational climate and culture. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which trauma exposure contributed to secondary traumatic stress and intent to quit and to examine the degree to which organizational climate moderated the exposure among direct service child welfare employees. Kurt Lewin's field theory, Figley's theory of secondary traumatic stress or compassion fatigue, and McCann and Pearlman's constructivist self-development theory were foundational for this study. The research questions determined whether a) trauma exposure to would relate positively with secondary traumatic stress and intent to quit, b) organizational climate would relate negatively with secondary traumatic stress and intent to quit, and c) organizational climate would moderate the relationship between trauma exposure and secondary traumatic stress as well as intent to quit. Pearson correlations indicated that exposure to traumatic situations was statistically related to secondary traumatic stress but not intent to quit, and organizational climate was statistically significant in relation to secondary traumatic stress and intent to quit. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated no interaction effect on either dependent variable but might have approached significance with a larger sample. Positive social change can occur through child welfare organizations emphasizing strategies that can reduce secondary traumatic stress and turnover.

Research has demonstrated that safety outcomes are impacted by workplace risk factors, but also supervisory practices and employee actions. An area that has not been explored is the impact of employee cognitions on safety outcomes defined as work-related injuries. Based on the conceptual framework of psychological empowerment (PE), the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of employee cognitions as measured by PE as related to leadership and safety climate and the occurrence of work-related injury. The research examined the mediating effect of (PE) on the factors of leadership and safety climate and their relationship to work-related injury. A cross-sectional survey design was used to gather data from a convenience sample of 125 front-line food manufacturing employees from 3 different organizations. Multiple regression was used to analyze data from the Organization-Level Safety Climate Scale, the Psychological Empowerment Instrument, the Leader Behavior Scale, and number of self-reported injuries. The results of the analysis were non-significant. Although the results were non-significant, this study promotes positive social change in bringing awareness to the issue of employee cognitions and their role in workplace injury. Exploring the implications of cognitive variables including PE using a different methodology such as incorporating a qualitative follow-up questionnaire could lead to clarity of the value of PE in reducing workplace injury thereby positively impacting employees, organizations, family members, and tax payers.

The annual loss to U.S. organizations consequential to a lack of employee engagement was approximately $300 billion in 2013. Employee engagement is vital to the business sustainability of an organization. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore successful strategies that business leaders of a service organization used to increase employee engagement. The conceptual framework guiding this study was the behavior engineering model theory developed by Gilbert. A purposeful sample of 6 engineering managers was selected based on their success in creating strategies resulting in increased employee workplace engagement in a monopoly service organization in Connecticut. Semistructured interviews were employed to elicit detailed information from participants and their experiences with employee engagement. A review of company documents and website data was used to enhance the credibility of the findings. Using Yin's 5-step method assisted in identifying themes. Two themes emerged with a focus on communication and rewards, benefits, and compensation. Communication through a variety of platforms and an attractive, rewards, benefits, and compensation package appealed to employees with unique skill sets and talents that fostered an environment for increased engagement. The findings of the study may contribute to positive social change by providing business leaders with tools to enhance greater employee job satisfaction and engagement in the service industry, which may in turn lead to a more productive and engaged workforce.

Every day aircraft pilots must successfully resolve significant inflight situations and then manage the possibility of residual psychological and physiological stress. Previous research has shown primary attention is given to presignificant event training and stress management, however there remains an important gap in the current literature regarding postsignificant event stress within the aviation profession. The purpose of this cross-sectional quantitative study was to use the observational lens of stress theory and survey U.S. pilots who have experienced an inflight emergency, looking for correlation between factors such as age, gender, flight experience, and training against a pilot's self-reported level of residual stress. Using snowball sampling methodology, 101 pilots were anonymously surveyed, with 89% responding that they had some level of residual stress via the Impact of Event Scale-Revised instrument. Using multiple linear regression analysis, the correlation between 9 personal and professional characteristics and pilot's stress level was significant, at R2 =.22, adjusted R2=.14, F(9, 91) = 2.8, p < .01. The sample's correlation coefficient was .47, indicating that approximately 22% of the variance in the residual stress was accounted for by the 9 personal and professional characteristics. Findings from this research will help clarify how pilot training and demographics can affect postsignificant event stress. This knowledge will be an important contribution to the existing literature and enhance social initiatives though an increased awareness of residual stress within the pilot profession. The results can be used to increase aviation safety by enabling the industry and government entities to develop and implement effective stress training initiatives.

Researchers have conducted correlational studies on transformational leadership and perceived meaning in work; however, researchers have not used an experimental design to examine the relationship between transformational leadership and perceived meaning in work. The purpose of this study was to determine whether reading information on transformational leadership, which focused on charisma and individualized consideration, influenced participants' hypothetical judgment of perceived meaning in work. The quantitative study included a 2 x 2 between-subjects design in which information on the independent variables of charisma and individualized consideration was manipulated in a description of a hypothetical leader. The dependent variable was the hypothetical judgment of meaning in work based on the hypothetical description of the leader. The study was a randomized experiment including survey data from 106 participants. Data were analyzed using a 2-way ANOVA. Findings showed reading information on charisma significantly increased participants' perceived meaning in work whereas reading information on individualized consideration decreased participants' perceived meaning in work. Findings may help organizations hire transformational leaders who possess charisma and have the ability to develop followers to become future leaders.