Members Matter In Team Training: Multilevel And Longitudinal Relationships Between Goal Orientation, Self-Regulation, And Team Outcomes

Longitudinal data from 338 individuals across 64 teams in a simulation-based team-training context were used to examine the effects of dispositional goal orientation on self-regulated learning (self-efficacy and metacognition). Team goal orientation compositions, as reflected by average goal orientations of team members, were examined for moderating effects on these individual-level relationships. Finally, individual-level self-regulation was investigated for its influence on multiple team-level outcomes across time. Results showed generally positive effects of learning goal orientation and negative effects of avoid performance and prove performance goal orientations on rates of self-regulation during team training. However, several of these individual-level relationships were moderated by team goal orientation composition. The importance of self-regulation in teams was displayed by results showing the average level of self-regulation among a team’s members over time was positively associated with team efficacy, team cooperation quality, and team decision making

Foreign Language Training Transfer: Individual And Contextual Predictors Of Skill Maintenance And Generalization

Foreign language proficiency is a critical skill in which many U.S. military personnel receive extensive training. However, very little research has examined the factors associated with the successful transfer of this training.This study therefore investigates the impact of individual and contextual variables on two different types of foreign language skill transfer measures in a military context. Archival data were analyzed from 133 U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets) teams, including 919 Soldiers who had completed job-required foreign language training. Results indicate that initial skill acquisition had a positive impact on both the maintenance and generalization of language skills. The posttraining time interval between training and transfer measurement was negatively associated with skill maintenance, suggesting significant skill decay over time. The team context also accounted for significant variability in skill transfer, and the team mean skill level moderated the relationship between individual initial skill and subsequent generalization to job performance

The Performance Appraisal Milieu: A Multilevel Analysis Of Context Effects In Performance Ratings

The purpose of this study was to take an inductive approach in examining the extent to which organizational contexts represent significant sources of variance in supervisor performance ratings, and to explore various factors that may explain contextual rating variability. Using archival field performance rating data from a large state law enforcement organization, we used a multilevel modeling approach to partition the variance in ratings due to ratees, raters, as well as rating contexts. Results suggest that much of what may often be interpreted as idiosyncratic rater variance, may actually reflect systematic rating variability across contexts. In addition, performance-related and non-performance factors including contextual rating tendencies accounted for significant rating variability. Supervisor ratings represent the most common approach for measuring job performance, and understanding the nature and sources of rating variability is important for research and practice. Given the many uses of performance rating data, our findings suggest that continuing to identify contextual sources of variability is particularly important for addressing criterion problems, and improving ratings as a form of performance measurement

It’s The Nature Of The Work: Examining Behavior-Based Sources Of Work–Family Conflict Across Occupations

The consequences of work–family conflict for both individuals and organizations have been well documented, and the various sources of such conflict have received substantial attention. However, the vast majority of extant research has focused on only time- and strain-based sources, largely neglecting behavior-based sources. Integrating two nationally representative databases, the authors examine 3 behavior-based antecedents of work–family conflict linked specifically to occupational work role requirements (interdependence, responsibility for others, and interpersonal conflict). Results from multilevel analysis indicate that significant variance in work–family conflict is attributable to the occupation in which someone works. Interdependence and responsibility for others predict work–family conflict, even after controlling for several time- and strain-based sources

Exploring Qualitative Training Reactions: Individual And Contextual Influences On Trainee Commenting

Training reactions are the most common criteria used for training evaluation, and reaction measures often include opportunities for trainees to provide qualitative responses. Despite being widely used, qualitative training reactions are poorly understood. Recent trends suggest commenting is ubiquitous (e.g., tweets, texting, Facebook posts) and points to a currently untapped resource for understanding training reactions. In order to enhance the interpretation and use of this rich data source, this study explored commenting behavior and investigated 3 broad questions: who comments, under what conditions, and how do trainees comment? We explore both individual difference and contextual influences on commenting and characteristics of comments in 3 studies. Using multilevel modeling, we identified significant class-level variance in commenting in each of the 3 samples of trainees. Because commenting has only been considered at the individual level, our findings provide an important contribution to the literature. The shared experience of being in the same class appears to influence commenting in addition to individual differences, such as interest in the topic (Studies 1 and 2), satisfaction (Studies 2 and 3), and entity beliefs (Study 3). Furthermore, we demonstrated that item wording may have an impact on commenting (Study 3) and should be considered as a potential lever for training professionals to influence commenting behavior from trainees. Training professionals, particularly those who regularly administer training evaluation surveys, should be aware of nonresponse to open-ended items and how that may impact the information they collect, use, and present within their organizations

Individual Learning In Team Training: Self-Regulation And Team Context Effects

Although many analysts recognize that team-level learning is reliant on the acquisition of learning content by individuals, very little research has examined individual-level learning during team training. In a sample of 70 teams (N = 380) that participated in a simulation-based team training setting designed to teach strategic decision-making, we examined how self-regulation during team training influenced the extent to which team members subsequently demonstrated individual mastery of the team training content. We also investigated the extent to which team characteristics moderated the relationships between self-regulation and learning outcomes. Multilevel mediation results indicated that self-efficacy fully mediated the effects of metacognition, or self-monitoring of learning, on individual declarative and procedural knowledge of team training content. The results also revealed that these individual-level relationships were moderated by the team context. In particular, a team’s overall performance and quality of cooperation amplified the positive effects of individual self-regulation. Implications for team training research and practice are discussed

Ebb And Flow Of Dispositional Goal Orientations: Exploring The Consequences Of Within-Person Variability

Goal orientation theory has long recognized both stability and variability in people’s preferences for different types of goals in achievement contexts. However, empirical examination of this fundamental theoretical tenet about dispositional goal orientations remains an essential need in extant scholarship. In a field study of a multi-month, job-related training program designed to instruct foreign language capabilities (N = 972), we examined within-person fluctuations in dispositional goal orientations over time and the influences of this variability on multiple learning outcomes. The results of longitudinal measurement invariance analyses as well as latent growth models depict both stability and significant within-person variability in dispositional goal orientations over time. Our findings further indicate that this fluctuation holds consequences for both skill-based and affective learning outcomes. We discuss the implications of our findings for future goal orientation theory and research, as well as for training practice

Decelerating The Diminishing Returns Of Citizenship On Task Performance: The Role Of Social Context And Interpersonal Skill

Recent scholarship on citizenship behavior demonstrates that engaging too often in these behaviors comes at the expense of task performance. In order to examine the boundary conditions of this relationship, we used resource allocation and social exchange theories to build predictions regarding moderators of the curvilinear association between citizenship and task performance. We conducted a field study of 366 employees, in which we examined the relationship between the frequency of interpersonal helping behavior and task performance and tested for the moderating influences of 3 social context features (social density, interdependence, and social support) and of employees’ levels of interpersonal skill. Results provided corroborating evidence of the diminishing returns between citizenship and task performance. Further, these diminishing returns were decelerated when contexts were characterized by high interdependence and social density and when employees possessed strong interpersonal skills. Implications for extending future citizenship theory and research to incorporate curvilinearity are presented

Examining A Cognitive Model Of Persecutory Ideation In The Daily Life Of People With Schizophrenia: A Computerized Experience Sampling Study

Contemporary theoretical models of paranoia suggest that negative emotions, perceptual anomalies, and recent life events are important predictors of experiencing persecutory ideation. In the current experience sampling study, these factors are examined prospectively for the first time as predictors of the occurrence of persecutory ideation, as well as persecutory belief conviction, and associated distress in real time in the context of daily life. One hundred and forty five community-dwelling participants with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder completed self-report assessments generated by a personal digital assistant multiple times a day for 1 week. Their responses were time lagged to allow examination of dynamic prospective relationships between variables as they occur within days. Approximately half of the participants reported having some persecutory thoughts, with a total of 378 reported occurrences of persecutory thoughts across participants during the week. Negative emotional states of anxiety and sadness were significant predictors of the occurrence of subsequent persecutory ideation, but hallucinations and recent life events were not. In a subsample of people who had multiple persecutory thoughts, anxiety was a significant predictor of belief conviction and associated distress, while sadness was only predictive of distress. The findings are consistent with recent cognitive theory that proposes a causal role for negative emotional states in the formation and maintenance of persecutory ideation and suggest that persecutory ideation may be addressed indirectly by interventions targeting anxiety and depression

The relationship between redox enzyme activity and electrochemical potential—cellular and mechanistic implications from protein film electrochemistry

In protein film electrochemistry a redox protein of interest is studied as an electroactive film adsorbed on an electrode surface. For redox enzymes this configuration allows quantification of the relationship between catalytic activity and electrochemical potential. Considered as a function of enzyme environment, i.e., pH, substrate concentration etc., the activity–potential relationship provides a fingerprint of activity unique to a given enzyme. Here we consider the nature of the activity–potential relationship in terms of both its cellular impact and its origin in the structure and catalytic mechanism of the enzyme. We propose that the activity–potential relationship of a redox enzyme is tuned to facilitate cellular function and highlight opportunities to test this hypothesis through computational, structural, biochemical and cellular studies