The purpose of this study was to explore the utility of frequency-based measurement as an alternative method for examining the stability of psychological capital, a higher-order construct introduced by Luthans and colleagues (2007), consisting of self-efficacy, hope, resilience, and optimism. Frequency-based measurement is a new approach based on the distributional assessment model (Kane, 1986; 2000) that provides information on the relative frequency of occurrence for specific behaviors over a given period of time, and offers a distribution that depicts the scope of an individual’s behavior. One advantage of this approach is that it can provide information on a person’s behavior over time in a single administration, allowing researchers to examine the temporal stability of constructs without having to conduct longitudinal studies (e.g., personality, Edwards & Woehr, 2007). To investigate the usefulness of this new approach, a series of studies was conducted using a sample of students from a large southeastern university. The first study compared a frequency-based measure of psychological capital to the more traditional Likert-type measure. Results indicated that the two are equivalent measures of the central tendency of psychological capital. The frequency-based measure was also compared to the Likert-type measure given across three contexts (family, school, and social settings) in a second study. Results indicated that the two approaches offered similar information in terms of consistency, with both approaches demonstrating some variability in responses over time or across contexts. Thus, this study provided further evidence that frequency-based measurement offers additional information not available in a single administration using a Likert-type measure. The last study investigated agreement between an individual’s self-reported psychological capital and ratings of their psychological capital given by an acquaintance. Contrary to my expectations, within-item consistency did not moderate self/other agreement. The implications of these findings are outlined, in addition to suggestions for future research.

This field study examined relationships of income and life satisfaction among retirees, their perceptions of whether their decisions to retire were voluntary or involuntary, and their stated reasons for retiring: “push” (to exit unsustainable work situations) or “pull” (to pursue more attractive options). Based on prior research, hypotheses predicted that voluntary / involuntary choice would moderate the relationship of income and life satisfaction, and that the relationship would vary as a function of "push" vs. "pull" reasons for retiring. A screened, national sample of 1,043 U.S. retirees completed an online survey that assessed satisfaction with multiple life domains, reason for retiring, demographic characteristics, family income, and perceived financial control. Results showed that voluntary retirees had, on average, higher income, life satisfaction, and perceived financial control than those who saw their retirements as involuntary. Type of reason for retirement did moderate the relationship between income and life satisfaction, but in an unexpected way. Based on decades of research on the relationship of control and stress, the hypothesis predicted the correlation between income and life satisfaction would be weakest in voluntary "pull" retirees, and strongest in the involuntary group. Instead, the relationship was strongest among voluntary "push" retirees (r=+.35). These surprising results highlight the importance of further research on perceived control over retirement on common predictors of life satisfaction in retirement.

Volunteerism plays an important role in modern American society with benefits accruing to the community and individuals who volunteer. This thesis evaluated the first year of operation of the ALIVE Center (A Local Information and Volunteer Exchange) by addressing four objectives of the program with data obtained from the ALIVE Center. To meet its first objective, the ALIVE Center maintains a current database of local human service organizations. The second objective, to establish a resource center and provide referrals and information to 1,000 people, was achieved. The third objective of maintaining a website was also met. Matching over 200 volunteers with local service programs, the fourth objective, was easily exceeded. Thus, each of the objectives was clearly met, indicating that the initial year of operation of the ALIVE Center was successful.

This study investigated the importance that junior and senior job-seeking undergraduates (Millennial generation members) place on transactional and relational work attributes; how ratings vary by gender, experiences with layoff, and intended loyalty; and how well ratings match with actual attributes offered by organizations. Results are discussed in context of psychological contract theory. Students (n = 199) and recent graduates working full-time (n = 180) took separate online survey. Students indicated the importance of various work attributes (Ng, Schweitzer, & Lyons, 2010), loyalty intentions, and other related questions. Graduates answered only work attribute questions related to their current employer. Work attributes were factored into new transactional (IMP-T; µ = .78) and relational scales (IMP-R; µ = .91). Key results indicated that students rated relational work attributes more highly than transactional attributes (p < .001); gender had no effect on importance ratings or intended loyalty; and students’ importance ratings were above the workplace reality.

An analysis of Peter F. Drucker (2001) and Jim Collins' (2005) theory that non-profits can teach businesses in the areas of mission orientation, board productivity and motivating workers. Extensive research was conducted on six Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership recipients: Roy L. Prosterman, the founder of the Rural Development Institute, a.k.a Landesa (2006), Fazle H. Abed, founder of Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (2007), Forum for African Women Educationalist (2008), Pratham (2010), mother2mothers (2012) and Soraya Salti, regional direction of INJAZ al-Arab (2012). This in-depth examination suggests that Drucker (2001) and Collins' (2005) postulation was accurate and the studied organizations excelled in the three mentioned principles.

This study was an extension of a study conducted by Roch, Paquin, and Littlejohn (2009). They investigated the relationship between rater agreement and the observability of items on a rating form. The current study found similar results in that, as items became less observable, interrater agreement increased. The purpose of this study was to introduce frame of reference training as an extension to the Roch et al. study in order to reverse their findings. In other words, trained raters would be less likely to default to a general impression on less observable items and thus would demonstrate higher rater agreement on more observable items than untrained raters. The results, based on 66 raters, replicated the findings of the Roch et al. study. The frame of reference training appeared to have no impact on the results. Results are discussed.

Organizations benefit from the use of training and performance assessments. Self-assessment is a way for trainees to monitor their progress throughout training and on the job. The literature indicates that ambiguity and skill level are factors that impact the accuracy of self-assessments. Previously, the effect of the interaction of ambiguity and skill level on self-assessment accuracy had not been investigated. The present study assessed the effect of skill level and item ambiguity on the accuracy of self-assessments made by Lieutenants and Captains in the U. S. Army. The results indicated that increased skill level resulted in increased accuracy of self-assessments while ambiguity had no effect. Counter to the hypothesis, as items became more ambiguous, both Captains and Lieutenants self-assessed more accurately. Implications and limitations are discussed, along with recommendations for future research.

This field study examined relationships of income and life satisfaction among retirees, their perceptions of whether their decisions to retire were voluntary or involuntary, and their stated reasons for retiring: “push” (to exit unsustainable work situations) or “pull” (to pursue more attractive options). Based on prior research, hypotheses predicted that voluntary / involuntary choice would moderate the relationship of income and life satisfaction, and that the relationship would vary as a function of "push" vs. "pull" reasons for retiring. A screened, national sample of 1,043 U.S. retirees completed an online survey that assessed satisfaction with multiple life domains, reason for retiring, demographic characteristics, family income, and perceived financial control. Results showed that voluntary retirees had, on average, higher income, life satisfaction, and perceived financial control than those who saw their retirements as involuntary. Type of reason for retirement did moderate the relationship between income and life satisfaction, but in an unexpected way. Based on decades of research on the relationship of control and stress, the hypothesis predicted the correlation between income and life satisfaction would be weakest in voluntary "pull" retirees, and strongest in the involuntary group. Instead, the relationship was strongest among voluntary "push" retirees (r=+.35). These surprising results highlight the importance of further research on perceived control over retirement on common predictors of life satisfaction in retirement.

With over 200 definitions of leadership, the question has evolved from ‘what is leadership?’ to ‘what is good leadership?” This paper analyzes the importance of personal ethics in leadership and how ethics produce effective leaders. The importance of understanding ethics, motivation to act as a role model and developing a plan of action for an organization are discussed because of their importance regarding development of good leadership. These key aspects suggest personal ethics positively affect leadership and when made a priority for leaders will produce ethical and effective leadership.

Organizational cohesion is a multifaceted construct that has been defined and assessed in a multitude of ways. For the purpose of this study, the researcher has defined organizational cohesion as the extent to which employees within an organization feel a sense of unity with one another. Practitioners are often faced with uncertainty regarding the necessary assessment materials when trying to evaluate organizational cohesion. An easily accessible and valid scale had yet to be created to measure organizational cohesion. The Organizational Cohesion Scale (OCS) is an eight-item assessment of an employee’s perception of the cohesion they have experienced with their peers within an organizational setting. The present research attempted to provide construct validity for the OCS. Assessments of the convergent and discriminant validity of the OCS were conducted; although the results did not provide strong evidence for construct validity of the OCS, the confirmatory factor analysis and criterion validity provided support for additional research to be conducted.