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Drawing on the labelling process in reactions to deviance, a model of the interplay of a coworker’s extra-organizational deviance and an individual’s reactions to that coworker has been developed. Three studies were conducted to further explore the model in order to more fully understand the phenomenon of extra-organizational deviance. The first study (n=12) was exploratory in nature. It established the relevance of extra-organizational deviance in individuals’ work lives and highlighted the detrimental effect that behaviours outside of work could have at work. It also highlighted the potential for beneficial outcomes in situations of positive extra-organizational deviance. The second study (n=120) was a vignette study that demonstrated significant differences when looking at positive and negative extra-organizational deviance for both attitudinal and behavioural reactions. In this study, when individuals learned of their coworker’s negative extra-organizational deviance, perceptions of trust, trustworthiness, and liking all decreased, as did helping. There were no corresponding significant results when individuals learned of their coworker’s positive extra-organizational deviance. The second study also demonstrated the moderating effects of high initial levels of liking and competence under different circumstances. The third study (n=21) provided a more detailed look at the variables in the second study by concentrating on actual situations of extra-organizational deviance that participants had experienced. This study highlighted the complexities in reactions to extra-organizational deviance, particularly as it relates to competence and liking.

Thesis advisor: Andrew Beauchamp / Thesis advisor: Arthur Lewbel / This thesis sheds light on two cutting-edge topics in Labor Economics, peer effects in the workplace and non-cognitive skills, and makes a methodological contribution to the related literature. The literature on peer effects in the workplace seeks to better understand co-workers' effect on an individual's productivity through the interactions among workers beyond the production technology. In the first essay, titled Learning When It Counts: Evidence from Professional Bowling Tournaments, I test the hypothesis that a worker can improve productivity by learning from peer co-workers in high-skill jobs. While demand for high-skill workers has been increasing, high-skill jobs often require workers to make a decision, facing uncertainty underlying their tasks. Highly skilled professionals have deep insights to pick up meaningful patterns of information. Therefore, if they are in an environment that allows them to learn additional information from co-workers, their productivity can improve. In this paper, I examine the productivity effects of learning among high-skill peers about uncertain conditions underlying their tasks with variations in the "space of ideas," exploiting a unique, novel dataset from professional bowling competitions. Specifically, a bowler learns about lane conditions in part by watching his competitor bowl on the same lane. A right-handed bowler learns more relevant (to his task) information from competing with another right-hander than with a left-hander, as the used part of the lanes (the proximate space of ideas) varies with handedness. I compare the probabilities of bowling a strike of bowlers matched with like-handed competitors versus opposite-handed competitors. I find a large impact of the same ideas space on learning, e.g, being paired with a like-handed bowler increases strike probability by 14 percentage points. This finding adds evidence for the existence of peer effects in high-skill jobs. I also show that learning curves exist only when bowlers are in same-handed match-ups, by examining how these differences change from one frame to the next over a game. Another calculation is determining how much total scores could be increased by pairing bowlers to raise the proximity in the space of ideas. These results are suggestive of how much workplaces might increase productivity by optimally pairing workers based on the proximity of the space of ideas. The second topic of this dissertation is non-cognitive skills such as conscientiousness, self-control and social skills. Conventionally, economists have assumed that measures of cognitive skills such as IQ were sufficient to represent the role of human capital in production. However, a growing body of research suggests that non-cognitive skills are important factors in educational attainment and labor outcomes. Recent research in psychology shows that bilingualism can help strengthen social skills and self-control. In the second essay, joint with Tracy Regan and titled Bilingual Advantage in Non-cognitive Skills, we examine the causal relationship between bilingualism and non-cognitive measures, exploiting a large dataset from Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002). To isolate the causality, we use an indicator for whether either parent was foreign-born as an instrumental variable for bilingualism. We find that raising the degree of speaking a language other than English to parents from none to all of the time can increase a student's percentile in the U.S. national distribution by 36 percentage points for conscientiousness (being well organized and working hard) and by 39 and 50 percentage points for instrumental motivation (academic motivation to achieve external goals such as better job opportunities) and persistence (keeping working even in difficulties). In particular, the bilingual advantage in persistence turns out to be significant only for disadvantaged children (the lowest socioeconomic status quartile) but insignificant for the others. These results suggest that bilingualism can be promoted as a policy tool to reduce inequality and call for further research on the relationship between bilingualism and non-cognitive skills. In the final essay, titled Simple Transformation for Finding a Maximum Weighted Matching in General Digraphs, I propose a novel, simple procedure using an existing efficient algorithm to find an optimal pairing that can produce the maximum output. As shown in the first essay, this algorithm can be useful for the optimal deployment of workforces with the consideration of peer effects. Particularly, the procedure is applicable to cases in which the order in a pair matters. The order can complicate the problem of finding optimal pairings, because a pair can have two orders. To address this ordered pairing problem, I devise a simple transformation of a general directed graph to a proper (undirected) graph. Using the transformed graph, a maximum weighted matching can be found, using any existing polynomial-time algorithm for undirected graphs. By recovering orientations in the found matching, a maximum weighted matching for the original directed graph can be found. I prove the matching from the suggested algorithm is always a maximum weighted matching in the directed graph. This thesis contributes to Labor Economics by adding evidence in newly-rising topics. The first chapter shows evidence of peer effect--learning from competitors--among high-skill workers. The second chapter suggests that bilinguals have an advantage in forming non-cognitive skills. The third chapter proposes an algorithm for finding an optimal pairing to maximize the aggregate productivity in the consideration of the learning effect found in the first chapter. I hope that the findings in the thesis will meaningfully contribute to the developing literature of Labor Economics. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

The present research investigates entitlement in the workplace through three related papers—a review and two empirical studies. In the first paper, I conduct a review of entitlement and offer an agenda for future research. I examine entitlement’s various historical roots, definitions and conceptualizations, measures, theoretical frameworks, antecedents, consequences, and role as a moderator. I also outline avenues for future entitlement research and advocate for research that considers the effects of perceived coworker entitlement from a state perspective. Following the research agenda of paper one, I empirically delve into the negative effects of perceived coworker entitlement in the second two papers. Specifically, in the second paper I explore how the individual can mitigate the negative effects associated with perceived coworker entitlement and in the third paper I explore how the organization can mitigate the negative effects associated with perceived coworker entitlement. In the second paper, I utilize equity theory and referent cognitions theory to examine the relationships between perceived coworker entitlement and individual outcomes including in-role behavior, organizational citizenship behavior, pay satisfaction, and counterproductive work behavior via psychological distress. I further explore the moderating role of individual difference variables including core-self evaluations, positive and negative affect, and equity sensitivity in the relationship between perceived coworker entitlement and psychological distress. Using a sample of 200 working adults, I found that core self-evaluations and equity sensitivity significantly moderate the relationship between perceived coworker entitlement and psychological distress. However, I did not find any significant mediation or moderated mediation relationships. In the third paper, I utilize fairness theory as a theoretical framework to study the relationships among perceived coworker entitlement, job satisfaction, organizational citizenship behavior, and emotional exhaustion. I further explore the moderating role of Colquitt’s (2001) four dimensions of organizational justice: distributive justice, procedural justice, interpersonal justice, and informational justice. Using the same sample of 200 working adults, I found that perceived coworker entitlement is negatively related to organizational citizenship behavior; distributive justice moderates the relationship between perceived coworker entitlement and emotional exhaustion; interpersonal justice moderates the relationship between perceived coworker entitlement and job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion; and informational justice moderates the relationship between perceived coworker entitlement and emotional exhaustion. Contributions to research, practical implications, strengths and limitations, and directions for future research are discussed. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Working in groups is a ubiquitous feature of daily life. For this reason, finding ways to maximise group outputs is of utmost importance. Efforts to enhance group outputs have typically focused on socially relevant interventions, often designed to increase rapport or motivation. Moreover, such interventions are usually implemented and measured at the level of the individual, thereby designating the group to being nothing more than the simple sum of its parts. Although long acknowledged as a key component of group performance, the role of coordination is relatively under-researched. The present thesis focused on understanding whether interpersonal coordination, as viewed through the theoretical lens of coordination dynamics, is able to shed further insight into the relationship between teamwork and productivity. A novel object movement task well-suited for investigating the effects of both social and physical parameters on group productivity was developed and validated. Different extensions of the task were explored across five studies. Shifting the unit of analysis from the individual to the group yielded novel insight into the issue of group productivity. The nature of the dependencies between participants (i.e., positive vs. negative) were seen to change patterns of coordination both within and between teams. Cooperating pairs were also more coordinated and accurate than competing pairs. When interdependence was high, stable modes of coordination enhanced accuracy, but not overall productivity. More broadly speaking, participants spontaneously adopted modes of coordination that were both functionally consistent with the task demands and conformed to the characteristic patterns inherent to self-organised coordination dynamics. The implications of this work are discussed with respect to extant theories of interpersonal coordination and suggestions are made for future research.

University of Technology, Sydney.Faculty of Business. / Organisations depend on teams to implement its strategies and enables organisations to be flexible and responsive in the competitive global environment. Teams contribute to the organisation while at the same time providing opportunities to team members to develop relationships within team. Teams are viewed as a major source of ‘environmental forces’ that help shape team members (McGrath and Kravitz, 1982). Previous research by Taggard and Brown (2001) shows that there is a statistically significant relationship between team members’ behaviour and team performance (e.g., participation and involving others, goal setting, feedback, team commitment, reaction to conflict, addressing conflict, averting conflict and communication). There is noticeably a lack of research on team behaviours in Malaysia. The first objective of this thesis is to explore the relationships between team performance and ‘behavioural’ characteristics in the Manufacturing and Telecommunication industries in Malaysia. Past findings suggest that ‘behavioural’ characteristics of well developed team tend to possess certain ‘behavioural’ characteristics (e.g., Wheelan and Hochberger, 1996; Woodcock and Francis, 1996). The literature (e.g., Hoigaard, et. al., 2006; Stevens and Champion, 1994) has shown that that ‘behavioural’ characteristics such as role clarity, role satisfaction, liking, goal agreement, openness to change and differences, participative leadership style, division of task into sub-teams, informal leadership role, effective handling of intra-team conflict and inter-team conflict are critical in team performance. The second objective seeks to investigate the relationship between team ‘structural’ factors (such as team size, team types, organisation size) and team behaviours. Team structure is viewed as ‘inputs’ to team behaviour (Gist et al., 1987). Goal contribution by teams (e.g., Hoegl and Parboteeah, 2003), customers (e.g., Kaczynski and Ott, 2004) and management (e.g., Samson and Daft (2003) were also included in the study. The third objective seeks to investigate the relationship between team members’ demographic variables (such as gender, ethnicity, age and education) and team behaviour and team performance. Scholars suggest that there is a link between team’s demography and team performance (e.g., Eisenhardt and Schoonhoven, 1990; Michael and Hambrick, 1992). Questionnaire data were collected from 59 work teams comprising of 137 individual team members) from both small and large organisations located in four regions in Malaysia (Penang, Kuala Lumpur Seremban and Malacca). The respondents were mainly Malay (52.9 percent), followed by Chinese (31.4 percent), and Indian (15.7 percent). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlations and one way analysis of variance. The findings suggest that ‘behavioural’ characteristics such as role clarity, role satisfaction and division of task into sub-teams are critical for all aspects of team performance. Goal agreement, role clarity, role satisfaction and division of task into sub-teams and participative leadership style correlate with the team performance indicator of downtime reduction. Role satisfaction and division of tasks into sub-teams correlates positively with waste reduction. The findings indicate that team type and organisation size correlates with team performance. The findings suggest that involvement from team members drawn from cross-functional areas complement each other and these teams tend to have less conflict in task performance. Team members from large organisations seem to have a majority of effective team behaviours such as cohesiveness, liking for each other, goal agreement, role clarity, and openness to differences. These teams also have a preference for structured activities such as division of tasks into sub-teams, participative leadership style and are motivated to achieve team goals. Goal contribution by teams and customers are critical for team performance. Celebrations of team success provide opportunities for reinforcing team values and bonding team members to one another, thus creating a cohesive team. However, team size does not impact team performance. The findings show that teams with a majority of Malay members tend to be more cohesive, like each other more, agree to team goals, open to change and accept each other’s differences. They also tend to prefer structured activities such as the division of tasks into sub-teams and participative leadership style. Teams with a majority of Chinese and Indian members tend to have higher inter-team conflict and tend to focus on the team’s outcome. The findings have important practical implication for managers and supervisors who need to be sensitive to the differences and needs of the multi-ethnic race team. Intra-team and inter-team conflict could be minimised by providing interpersonal training and conflict resolution skills for team members to communicate positively and build rapport. The findings show that there is a strong relationship between team performance and team type, and team membership composition. Therefore, teams need to be labelled accurately according to the different team expectations and needs of the team (e.g., training, supervision, motivation). The findings found that team involvement in team goals is associated with team performance. This finding suggests that managers need to involve team members in setting reachable goals which provide a sense of direction to teams. In conclusion, the study found that there is a relationship between team ‘behavioural’ characteristics such as role clarity, role satisfaction and division of task into sub-teams and team performance in the Malaysian context. Ethnic values and cultural differences also influence team members’ behaviour. The study suggests that goal contribution by team and customer provide a sense of direction to teams in achieving the teams’ outcomes. Celebration of team success and team participation in convention enhances team performance.

University of Techology, Sydney. Faculty of Education. / The concern of this thesis is the way workplace learning is able to be known and spoken about and the effects of the contemporary privileging of an experiential learning discourse in the workplace. Following an analytic method outlined by Foucault, I explore a field of multiple and mobile force relations between professional developers, trade teachers, workplace learning academics, senior managers, organisational consultants and organisational learning theorists, and the purposes to which discourses of workplace learning might be put. The research site for the study was a recent industry-university collaboration that explored workplace learning in a large public sector organisation. Using various organisational texts including: interview transcripts from workers participating in the industry-university research project, documents produced during the project, documents produced by a Professional Development Unit (the industry partners on the project), and academic texts on organisational learning, I examine the circulation and intersection of different workplace learning discourses. I also examine the positioning, position taking and resistances around the subject position of ‘the workplace learner’ in a workplace. A number of Foucauldian themes guide the analyses in this thesis including: power as multiformed, power as relational, the distribution of power, multiple subjectivities, and subjectivity as a site of resistance. This enables an examination of workplace learning discourses as instruments of power, but also as providing points of resistance. This thesis makes a significant contribution to knowledge in the fields of organisational learning and workplace learning by foregrounding complex mechanisms whereby technologies of power interplay with technologies of the self. These citings/sitings/sightings of power and subjectivity have implications for professional development practices and the ‘management’ of workplace learning, as well as the practices of workplace and organisational learning researchers.

In the last few decades, the workplace has been increasingly recognised as a legitimate environment for learning new skills and knowledge, which in turn enables workers to participate more effectively in ever-changing work environments. Within the workplace there is the potential for continuous learning to occur not only through formal learning initiatives that are associated with training, but also through informal learning opportunities that are embedded within everyday work activities. Somewhat surprisingly however, there have been relatively limited empirical investigations into the actual processes of informal learning in the workplace. This may in part be due to the particular methodological challenges of examining forms of learning that are not structured or organised but incidental to daily work activities. There remains, therefore, a clear need to better understand how learning occurs informally in the workplace, and most importantly, to gain insight into workers’ own accounts of informal learning experiences. This thesis addresses this issue by examining workers’ personal experiences of informal learning, and how these contributed to better participation in their regular workplace activities. Four bodies of literature were reviewed as directly relevant to this research, adult learning, organisational learning, informal learning, and a sociocultural perspective on learning. Together, they provide complementary perspectives on the development of learning in the workplace. A conceptual framework, grounded in the sociocultural perspective, was developed to address the issue of how informal learning leads to better participation in the workplace, and reciprocally, how better participation leads to continuous informal learning. Consistent with the sociocultural perspective, the workplace was conceptualised as a complex social system in which co-workers, who constitute that social system, are assumed to co-regulate each other’s learning opportunities. Social interactions, therefore, are considered as creating a context in which informal learning is afforded or constrained. Understanding what role workplace culture and socialisation play in affording or constraining informal learning opportunities is therefore crucial. This is because the relationships between co-workers is assumed to influence how both new and established co-workers participate in and experience the socialisation process and how they see their respective roles. The framework developed for the study generated two main research questions: How do co-workers learn informally in the workplace? and How does the workplace, as a social system, afford or constrain informal learning in the workplace? The methodology chosen for this empirical study was consistent with key concepts from the sociocultural perspective, namely that individuals and their social context must be studied concurrently as learning is assumed to be part of a social practice where activities are structured by social, cultural and situational factors. Accordingly, qualitative research methods were employed to gain knowledge and understanding of informal learning in the workplace from the perspective of co-workers. Co-worker’s reflections on their informal learning experiences and participation in the workplace are presented in narrative form and their accounts interpreted from the sociocultural theoretical perspective. The narrative format provides a useful way of presenting data in a way that immerses the reader in the phenomenon, with enough concrete details that the reader can identify with the subjective experiences of informal learning of each participant. The study highlighted how the nature of some relationships between new and established co-workers afforded opportunities for informal learning, while other relationships constrained such opportunities. These afforded or constrained opportunities were by nature spontaneous, planned, intentional or unintentional. The study also revealed that personal and organisational factors co-contributed to creating these social affordances or constraints. Common across groups was the importance given to the quality of relationships between co-workers. The way new and established co-workers participated and interacted in the workplace was found to represent important sociocultural processes that impacted on the effectiveness of informal learning. Overall, this study draws attention to the complexity of participation and interaction in the workplace. A major implication is that opportunities for informal learning are, potentially afforded or constrained by the social context. The study also highlighted conceptual and methodological issues in identifying and interpreting how co-workers learn informally in the workplace. Future research should establish how opportunities for effective informal learning might be fostered further through the design of more enabling workplace practices. The significance of perceived and expected roles between new and established co-workers also deserves further empirical attention, at the level of everyday informal practices but also at the level of organisational processes and structures that provide the broader context.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1981. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-68). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1981. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-141). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.