Employee attitude surveys: examining the attitudes of noncompliant employees

Cognitive empathy of osteopathic students: a longitudinal study with data comparisons to the Project in Osteopathic Medical Education and Empathy (POMEE)

CONTEXT

Establishing an empathic bond of trust with patients is a characteristic that physicians need, because patients feel that physicians are more caring if they sense that they are empathetic. Former cross-sectional studies have shown an erosion of cognitive empathy as medical students progress through their education.

OBJECTIVES

This study aims to measure the changes in student cognitive empathy as they progress through their undergraduate osteopathic medical education. Cognitive empathy scores are compared to the nationwide norms established by the Project in Osteopathic Medical Education and Empathy (POMEE) study by Mohammadreza Hojat, PhD, and colleagues.

METHODS

During orientation to medical school, and at the beginning of each subsequent academic year, and just before graduation, the graduating classes of 2017-2019 participated in this longitudinal study by filling out the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Student Version (JSE-S). A total of 345/459 Osteopathic Medical Student (OMS) I-IV students (75.2 % of the graduates) filled out the forms for all five time points. Desired specialty choice and sex were also collected. Specialty choice was divided into Core and Non-Core groups. Core specialties are "people-oriented" and have a large amount of patient contact and continuity of care, while Non-Core specialties are "technical- or procedure-oriented" and have little or no patient contact and/or continuity of care.

RESULTS

Men selecting Non-Core specialties had significant drops in JSE-S scores (p=0.001); whereas men who selected the Core specialties did not have a significant decrease. For women, there was no significant drop in JSE-S scores for those selecting either Core or Non-Core specialties. When compared to POMEE norm data, none of the Campbell University School of Medicine students had JSE-S scores that were above the 50th percentile.

CONCLUSIONS

Students selecting Core specialties do a better job of maintaining their cognitive empathy, which aids their ability to establish an empathic bond of trust with patients, when compared to students who desire Non-Core specialties. JSE-S scores not above the POMEE 50th percentile is concerning and indicate either a curricular change to better enhance empathic communication skills and/or better applicant selection.

The role of mean item ratings, topic distance, direct leadership, and voice climate in action planning after employee surveys

This study contributes to the literature on employee surveys as a tool for organizational development and, specifically, the post-survey action planning process by examining key variables that affect this process. Using data from one large company in Germany, this study investigates team-level action planning in three consecutive years of 5,875 organizational units [OUs] in 2016, 5,673 OUs in 2017, and 5,707 OUs in 2018. Ratings per item on the employee survey and topic distance, which refers to the extent to which a survey topic can be addressed within the boundaries of the OU, predicted choice of topics for action planning. Furthermore, direct leadership and voice climate did not predict whether OUs conducted action planning. However, consistent with hypotheses, results showed that direct leadership and voice climate were associated with significantly less action planning in comparison to other topics of the employee survey. Direct leaders and OU members that experience shortcomings in direct leadership or voice climate need to improve on these topics. However, at the same time, these deficits could hinder leaders and members in planning actions in general and for these specific topics, as they represent important requirements for conducting effective action planning in the first place. This creates an organizational paradox. Based on the findings, it is recommend that organizations take topic distance into account when designing questionnaires that entail action planning expectations and consider offering additional resources and support to OUs and direct leaders to enable effective action planning.

Team-Member Role Characteristics as Predictors of Response Behavior on Team-Related Surveys

Although substantive research examining work teams continues to grow, methodological research examining the collection of team survey data lags behind substantive progress. To address this research gap, we test how individual and team characteristics affect one’s likelihood of completing a team survey. Using multilevel ordinal logistic regression analysis of human resources information systems data and survey responses from 3,403 clinical staff within 900 multidisciplinary healthcare teams, we found that time dedicated to the team, leadership status, and team size relate to response behavior, with differential effects for men and women. We discuss implications for team research in real-world organizational contexts.

Effects of Action Planning After Employee Surveys

Abstract. Employee surveys are commonly used tools in organizations for the purpose of organizational development. We investigated the post-survey action planning process in 3,091 organizational units (OUs) of one large company in Germany. We expected action planning to lead to improvements on subsequent employee survey scores, with OUs that continuously and repeatedly planned actions showing the greatest improvements. Results suggest that the development of action plans can lead to improvements on subsequent survey scores, but effect sizes were generally small. Furthermore, managers who initiated action planning in the previous year were more likely to do so again the following year. Overall, these findings contribute to the literature on employee surveys by investigating effects of post-survey action planning.

Following Up on Employee Surveys: A Conceptual Framework and Systematic Review

Employee surveys are often used to support organizational development (OD), and particularly the follow-up process after surveys, including action planning, is important. Nevertheless, this process is oftentimes neglected in practice, and research on it is limited as well. In this article, we first define the employee survey follow-up process and differentiate it from other common feedback practices. Second, we develop a comprehensive conceptual framework that integrates the relevant variables of this process. Third, we describe the methods and results of a systematic review that synthesizes the literature on the follow-up process based on the conceptual framework with the purpose of discussing remaining research gaps. Overall, this paper contributes to a better understanding of the organizational and human factors that affect this process. This is useful for practitioners, as it provides guidance for the successful implementation of this human resource practice. For example, research suggests that it is important to enable managers as change agents and to provide them with sufficient resources.

Work-related burnout among personnel at a university hospital: identifying quantitative and qualitative differences using latent class analysis

BACKGROUND

Burnout among hospital personnel is frequent and has impacts on the quality of care. Monitoring is important, but there is a lack of specificity for individual patterns of burnout syndromes.

AIMS

This study aimed to identify specific burnout profiles in a hospital setting.

METHOD

Using job satisfaction data from a survey of 4793 hospital personnel, we performed a latent class analysis on the work-related items of the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI). Total burnout score, job satisfaction and work-related variables were compared across classes.

RESULTS

Five latent work-related burnout profiles were revealed, including a high-risk class (9.5% of participants) and two classes with similar total CBI scores: a high-fatigue class (6%), including young administrative personnel who reported less pleasure at work but a better work-life balance, and an emotional-exhaustion class (13.1%), including older healthcare personnel who were more satisfied at work and could use their skills appropriately. Finally, personnel in the high-risk class were younger healthcare professionals, reporting lower job satisfaction, poorer working conditions and less respect from their direct hierarchy.

CONCLUSIONS

The risk and type of burnout depended on personnel's characteristics and their social and work environments. Tailored interventions should be used to address these different profiles.

Employee Musculoskeletal Complaints and Supervisor Support: Implications for Behavioral Stress Reactions

OBJECTIVE

This research investigated the moderating role of supervisor support for employees with musculoskeletal complaints and their intentions to seek medical advice; take sick leave; transfer jobs; and resign.

METHODS

Cross-sectional questionnaire data were collected from 1024 Australian employees.

RESULTS

Regressions with bootstrapping revealed no support for the buffering role of supervisor support. In contrast to expectations, high supervisor support heightened, rather than lowered, musculoskeletal complaints on intentions to transfer jobs. For sick leave and resignation intentions, high supervisor support buffered the negative effects of musculoskeletal complaints for full-timers but exacerbated such intentions for part-timers. Furthermore, full-timers with high musculoskeletal complaints appeared more vulnerable to the exacerbating effects of low supervisor support compared with part-timers.

CONCLUSIONS

Supervisor support for employees with musculoskeletal complaints both weakens and strengthens behavioral stress reactions, depending on employment status.

School Social Capital and Tobacco Experimentation Among Adolescents: Evidence From a Cross-Classified Multilevel, Longitudinal Analysis

PURPOSE

School social capital incorporates the intangible prosocial resources from social networks, including expectations and social norms, found in a school environment. School social capital may influence health behaviors such as smoking. This study examined the association of school social capital with smoking behaviors from childhood into adolescence.

METHODS

We used a cohort sampled from three U.S. cities for the Healthy Passages Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The primary outcome was cigarette smoking at grade 10 (Wave 3). The primary predictor of interest was school social capital at grade 5 (Wave 1). We included potential covariates at the individual, school, and neighborhood levels at Wave 1. To account for simultaneous clustering in schools and neighborhoods, cross-classified multilevel models were used.

RESULTS

After exclusions and imputations for missing variables, our final sample contained 3,968 students as constituents of 118 schools and 479 neighborhoods. With adjustment for the covariates, school social capital for grade 5 was negatively associated with cigarette smoking in grade 10. We estimated that a 1 standard deviation increase in the school average social capital for grade 5 is associated with an odds ratio of .86 (95% credible interval: .75-.98) for school-level smoking in grade 10.

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggests that school social capital in late elementary years is associated with reduced smoking behaviors among adolescents in the U.S. Influencing school social capital through enrichment of positive social norms and parent/teacher expectations may be a useful strategy to reduce adolescent smoking, with long-term implications for adult health.

Uncovering cognitive and affective sources of satisfaction homogeneity in work teams

Shared satisfaction in teams is crucial for team functioning and performance. However, it is still unclear how and why team members’ job satisfaction transforms into a shared team property. Based on affective events theory, I test hypotheses about situational, dispositional, and social antecedents of satisfaction homogeneity with a comprehensive model. Path analyses based on data from 415 team members working in 110 teams suggest that job satisfaction homogeneity primarily depends on characteristics of the working environment. Experiencing similar affective job events increased the likelihood of shared satisfaction by inducing shared affect. Team members’ personality traits (core self-evaluations) had indirect and small effects on satisfaction homogeneity. Unlike earlier studies, there was no evidence that social interaction leads to agreement in job satisfaction. Additionally, I partly replicated the finding that satisfaction homogeneity moderates the team-level satisfaction–team performance relationship.

Outcome-sensitive multiple imputation: a simulation study

Background

Multiple imputation is frequently used to deal with missing data in healthcare research. Although it is known that the outcome should be included in the imputation model when imputing missing covariate values, it is not known whether it should be imputed. Similarly no clear recommendations exist on: the utility of incorporating a secondary outcome, if available, in the imputation model; the level of protection offered when data are missing not-at-random; the implications of the dataset size and missingness levels.

Methods

We used realistic assumptions to generate thousands of datasets across a broad spectrum of contexts: three mechanisms of missingness (completely at random; at random; not at random); varying extents of missingness (20–80% missing data); and different sample sizes (1,000 or 10,000 cases). For each context we quantified the performance of a complete case analysis and seven multiple imputation methods which deleted cases with missing outcome before imputation, after imputation or not at all; included or did not include the outcome in the imputation models; and included or did not include a secondary outcome in the imputation models. Methods were compared on mean absolute error, bias, coverage and power over 1,000 datasets for each scenario.

Results

Overall, there was very little to separate multiple imputation methods which included the outcome in the imputation model. Even when missingness was quite extensive, all multiple imputation approaches performed well. Incorporating a secondary outcome, moderately correlated with the outcome of interest, made very little difference. The dataset size and the extent of missingness affected performance, as expected. Multiple imputation methods protected less well against missingness not at random, but did offer some protection.

Conclusions

As long as the outcome is included in the imputation model, there are very small performance differences between the possible multiple imputation approaches: no outcome imputation, imputation or imputation and deletion. All informative covariates, even with very high levels of missingness, should be included in the multiple imputation model. Multiple imputation offers some protection against a simple missing not at random mechanism.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12874-016-0281-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Cultural Values and Potential Nonresponse Bias

Using data from a prior survey of managers in 20 European countries, the authors conducted multilevel analyses to illustrate the value of examining relationships of both individual characteristics and country characteristics to likelihood of responding. Consistent with inferences about likely salience of the survey topic, they found that likelihood of responding was higher for women than for men and was also higher in countries with more gender equality than in countries with less gender equality. These findings underscore the need to examine national cultural values that might be related to both survey topic salience and country response rates as potential sources of nonresponse (and nonresponse bias) in international survey-based research.

Assessing the Impact of Nonresponse on Work Group Diversity Effects

Research examining relations between work group diversity and outcome measures often relies on diversity scores that are calculated on the basis of individual responses to organizational surveys. When employees fail to respond to a survey, however, the resultant diversity score representing their group will be somewhat distorted. The authors conducted a series of computer simulations to examine the extent to which correlations between group diversity scores (derived from continuous or categorical variables) and outcome variables were attenuated by various forms of random and systematic participant nonresponse. Results indicate that random nonresponse, and many forms of systematic nonresponse, substantially attenuate mean observed correlations.

Employee Surveys Administered Online

This field study of military and civilian workers offers a multimethod approach for studying nonrespondents while investigating (a) how employees feel about taking surveys online, (b) whether dissatisfaction with Web-based survey media discourages response, and (c) the representativeness of attitudinal data produced by workers who opt to complete an online climate survey. Results suggested that employees were not as comfortable with Web-based surveys as suggested in previous research. Moreover, issues pertaining to the online medium discouraged workers from completing the Web-based climate survey. Additional factors driving active and passive nonresponse were also uncovered. Overall, those who did and did not complete the survey held similar views of organizational climate. Results are discussed in terms of the factors driving nonresponse bias.

Introduction

A survey is a potentially powerful assessment, monitoring, and evaluation tool available to organizational scientists. To be effective, however, individuals must complete the survey and in the inevitable case of nonresponse, we must understand if our results exhibit bias. In this article, the nonresponse bias impact assessment strategy (N-BIAS) is proposed. The N-BIAS approach is a series of techniques that when used in combination, provide evidence about a study's susceptibility to bias and its external validity. The N-BIAS techniques stem from a review of extant research and theory. To inform future revisions of the N-BIAS approach, a future research agenda for advancing the study of survey response and nonresponse is provided.

A Penny for Your Thoughts

Two studies were conducted to assess the extent to which prepaid monetary incentives increase response rates to company-sponsored employee surveys. The first study indicated that providing a prepaid monetary incentive to a randomly selected group of employees from among a sample of 7,268 employees increased response rates from 31.7% to 43.5%. A second study based on 4,925 employees from another company replicated this finding and tested for effects of novelty and incentive size. Although response rates in the second study were significantly higher for employees who received an incentive (24.9%) compared with those who did not receive an incentive (20.8%), no significant effects were found for novelty or incentive size. The implications for using incentives to increase response rates in company-based surveys are discussed.

Nonresponse Rates to Organic Questionnaire Items as Evidence of Parallel Processes during Organizational Diagnosis

Using the concept of parallel processes, this study frames nonresponse rates to organic questionnaire items as indicators of authority relations within the organization. Based on information obtained during entry, an eight-person team conducting an organizational diagnosis with a state agency measured employee attitudes toward management training, their own supervisory relationship, and senior management. Consistent with the hypotheses, the study found nonresponse rates varied by respondents’ hierarchical level and questionnaire topic. There also was an interaction between employee job level and questionnaire item response rate. Highest nonresponse rates occurred among hourly employees addressing questions about senior management. In parallel fashion, higher ranking employees showed more favorable attitudes toward management training, supervision, and senior management. The findings point to the potential scientific benefit of treating nonresponses to measuring instruments as information about the organization rather than just as methodological artifacts affecting the validity of the findings.

Attitudes toward Surveys: Development of a Measure and Its Relationship to Respondent Behavior

Attitudes toward surveys were conceptualized as having two relatively independent components: feelings about the act of completing a survey, called survey enjoyment, and perceptions of the value of survey research, called survey value. After developing a psychometrically sound measure, the authors examined how the measure related to respondent behaviors that directly impact the quality and quantity of data collected in surveys. With the exception of a response distortion index, survey enjoyment was generally related to all the respondent behaviors studied (item response rates, following directions, volunteering to participate in other survey research, timeliness of a response to a survey request, and willingness to participate in additional survey research). Survey value was related to item response rates, following directions, and willingness to participate in additional survey research. A respondent motivation and intentions explanation is provided. Although the identified effect sizes were generally small, a number of practical implications emerge and are discussed.

Longitudinal Modeling with Randomly and Systematically Missing Data: A Simulation of Ad Hoc, Maximum Likelihood, and Multiple Imputation Techniques

For organizational research on individual change, missing data can greatly reduce longitudinal sample size and potentially bias parameter estimates. Within the structural equation modeling framework, this article compares six missing data techniques (MDTs): listwise deletion, pairwise deletion, stochastic regression imputation, the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm, full information maximization likelihood (FIML), and multiple imputation (MI). The rationale for each technique is reviewed, followed by Monte Carlo analysis based on a threewave simulation of organizational commitment and turnover intentions. Parameter estimates and standard errors for each MDT are contrasted with complete-data estimates, under three mechanisms of missingness (completely random, random, and nonrandom) and three levels of missingness (25%, 50%, and 75%; all monotone missing). Results support maximum likelihood and MI approaches, which particularly outperform listwise deletion for parameters involving many recouped cases. Better standard error estimates are derived from FIML and MI techniques. All MDTs perform worse when data are missing nonrandomly.

Using Internet/Intranet Web Pages to Collect Organizational Research Data

Wide availability of networked personal computers within organizations has enabled new methods for organizational research involving presentation of research stimuli using Web pages and browsers. The authors provide an overview of the technological challenges for collecting organizational data through this medium as a springboard to discuss the validity of such research and its ethical implications. A review of research comparing Web browser–based research with other administration modalities appears to warrant guarded optimism about the validity of these new methods. The complexity of the technology and researchers’ relative unfamiliarity with it have created a number of pitfalls that must be avoided to ensure ethical treatment of research participants. The authors highlight the need for an online research participants’ bill of rights and other structures to ensure successful and appropriate use of this promising new research medium.

A Primer on Internet Organizational Surveys

With so many individuals linked to the Internet and so many possible ways to reach them, the debate for organizational scholars is no longer over whether Internet self-administered surveys are possible but rather over the comparative understanding and the relative advantages and disadvantages of these surveys. Because relevant research has generally been fragmented and narrow in scope, making comparisons difficult, the authors review and assess the research on Internet selfadministered surveying modalities of electronic mail and the World Wide Web. Then, they provide recommendations that address problematic and controversial aspects of these modalities, including ways to increase the representativeness of samples, construct sampling frames, increase response rates, and manage anonymity and confidentiality.

Inattentive Responding in MTurk and Other Online Samples

The focal article by Landers and Behrend (2015) makes the case that samples collected on microtask websites like Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) are inherently no better or worse than traditional samples of convenience from university students or organizations. We wholeheartedly agree. However, having successfully used MTurk and other online sources for data collection, we feel that the focal article was insufficient regarding the caution required in identifying inattentive respondents and the problems that can arise if such individuals are not removed from the dataset. Although we focus on MTurk, similar issues arise for most “low-stakes” assessments, including student samples, which seem to be increasingly collected online.

Considering the Effects of Nonresponse on Correlations Between Surveyed Variables

Nonresponse to organizational surveys is a vexing problem. Although scholars have a reasonable understanding of how systematic nonresponse influences estimates of population means, they are likely to have less context for understanding how it impacts correlations. We present the results of a simulation study designed to provide a frame of reference for understanding the extent to which systematic nonresponse can bias observed correlations between surveyed variables. Although there were cases where notable levels of bias were observed in the correlations, the majority of situations simulated resulted in mean observed correlations that were within .05 of the true correlation. The variety of situations simulated allows researchers to evaluate the external validity of observed correlations in their data – a critical goal for survey researchers in practice and academics.

The Trajectory of Emergence of Shared Group-Level Constructs

By examining 20 years of research conducted on groups (and teams), in field, academic, and laboratory settings, we used statistical aggregation indices to evaluate arguments that in newly formed groups, (a) evidence of the emergence of group-level shared constructs should be minimal and (b) evidence of the emergence of such constructs should increase over time/interaction. Puzzlingly, we found relatively little evidence supporting these arguments. Instead, emergence of group-level shared constructs seems evident very soon after group formation and, to the extent that this was possible to evaluate, emergence trajectories seemed to vary little across time. This pattern of findings is discussed with respect to both methodological and substantive issues, and we propose mechanisms that might explain what appears to be the surprisingly early emergence of group-level shared constructs.

Climbing the Higher Mountain: The Challenges of Multilevel, Multisource, and Longitudinal Research Designs

Management researchers are being encouraged to collect multilevel, multisource, and longitudinal (MML) data. In this essay, I identify the barriers that researchers might encounter in gaining university ethics committee approval for MML designs and the challenges researchers face when conducting MML research in organizations. I offer suggestions to overcome these challenges. I further discuss some long-term consequences of MML designs for researchers' relationships with organizations and the progress of the management field as a whole.

Using single items to measure job stressors

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine whether single-item measures of job stressor facets were as valid as multiple-item measures in predicting psychological strain. Single-item measures are more time and cost efficient than multiple-item measures and may also have psychometric benefits.

Design/methodology/approach

– Data from 3,166 hospital employees were used to evaluate the validity of 11 single-item job stressor facet measures by applying five criteria for content and criterion validity.

Findings

– Based on this data, six single-item measures of job stressors met all criteria, supporting their use as single-item facet measures.

Research limitations/implications

– The use of a sample of employees from one female-dominated industry may limit the generalizability of the results to other industries. Future research should replicate the results of the current study in other industries and use longitudinal designs to examine the predictive validity of the single-item measures. Future studies may also develop single-item measures of each facet a priori and examine their validity.

Practical implications

– Results support the use of single-item measures for the assessment of significance, recognition, workload, work-family conflict, skill use, and coworker relations, which can be included in research where a shorter survey is necessary. These six measures may facilitate more frequent assessment of job stressors, the assessment of job stressors as control variables, and the assessment of multiple job stressors simultaneously, while still minimizing survey space and cost.

Originality/value

– This is the first study to examine the validity of single-item measures of job stressors, which is a construct that is frequently assessed in organizations.

Senior management leadership, social support, job design and stressor-to-strain relationships in hospital practice

PURPOSE

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the quality of senior management leadership on social support and job design, whose main effects on strains, and moderating effects on work stressors-to-strains relationships were assessed.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

A survey involving distribution of questionnaires was carried out on a random sample of health care employees in acute hospital practice in the UK. The sample comprised 65,142 respondents. The work stressors tested were quantitative overload and hostile environment, whereas strains were measured through job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Structural equation modelling and moderated regression analyses were used in the analysis.

FINDINGS

Quality of senior management leadership explained 75 per cent and 94 per cent of the variance of social support and job design respectively, whereas work stressors explained 51 per cent of the variance of strains. Social support and job design predicted job satisfaction and turnover intentions, as well as moderated significantly the relationships between quantitative workload/hostility and job satisfaction/turnover intentions.

RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS

The findings are useful to management and to health employees working in acute/specialist hospitals. Further research could be done in other counties to take into account cultural differences and variations in health systems. The limitations included self-reported data and percept-percept bias due to same source data collection.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

The quality of senior management leaders in hospitals has an impact on the social environment, the support given to health employees, their job design, as well as work stressors and strains perceived.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

The study argues in favour of effective senior management leadership of hospitals, as well as ensuring adequate support structures and job design. The findings may be useful to health policy makers and human resources managers.

Patient safety climate and worker safety behaviours in acute hospitals in Scotland

OBJECTIVES

To obtain a measure of hospital safety climate from a sample of National Health Service (NHS) acute hospitals in Scotland and to test whether these scores were associated with worker safety behaviors, and patient and worker injuries.

METHODS

Data were from 1,866 NHS clinical staff in six Scottish acute hospitals. A Scottish Hospital Safety Questionnaire measured hospital safety climate (Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture), worker safety behaviors, and worker and patient injuries. The associations between the hospital safety climate scores and the outcome measures (safety behaviors, worker and patient injury rates) were examined.

RESULTS

Hospital safety climate scores were significantly correlated with clinical workers' safety behavior and patient and worker injury measures, although the effect sizes were smaller for the latter. Regression analyses revealed that perceptions of staffing levels and managerial commitment were significant predictors for all the safety outcome measures. Both patient-specific and more generic safety climate items were found to have significant impacts on safety outcome measures.

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrated the influences of different aspects of hospital safety climate on both patient and worker safety outcomes. Moreover, it has been shown that in a hospital setting, a safety climate supporting safer patient care would also help to ensure worker safety.

IMPACT ON INDUSTRY

The Scottish Hospital Safety Questionnaire has proved to be a usable method of measuring both hospital safety climate as well as patient and worker safety outcomes.

Evaluating survey quality in health services research: a decision framework for assessing nonresponse bias

OBJECTIVE

To address the issue of nonresponse as problematic and offer appropriate strategies for assessing nonresponse bias.

STUDY DESIGN

A review of current strategies used to assess the quality of survey data and the challenges associated with these strategies is provided along with appropriate post-data collection techniques that researchers should consider.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

Response rates are an incomplete assessment of survey data quality, and quick reactions to response rate should be avoided. Based on a five-question decision making framework, we offer potential ways to assess nonresponse bias, along with a description of the advantages and disadvantages to each.

CONCLUSIONS

It is important that the quality of survey data be considered to assess the relative contribution to the literature of a given study. Authors and funding agencies should consider the potential effects of nonresponse bias both before and after survey administration and report the results of assessments of nonresponse bias in addition to response rates.

Examining workgroup diversity effects: does playing by the (group-retention) rules help or hinder?

Group diversity researchers are often faced with the problem of calculating diversity indices for groups that are incomplete due to participant nonresponse. Because participant nonresponse may attenuate the correlations that are observed between group diversity scores and outcome variables, some researchers use group-retention rules based on within-group response rates. With this approach, only those groups that have a within-group response rate at, or higher than, the rate prescribed by the group-retention rule are retained for subsequent analyses. We conducted two sets of experiments using computer simulations to determine the usefulness of group-retention rules. We found that group-retention rules are not a substitute for a high response rate and may decrease the accuracy of observed relations, and consequently, we advise against their use in diversity research.

A systematic review of safety violations in industry

It is widely known that intentional non-malevolent violations of safety procedures and norms occur and evidence shows that safety violations can increase the risk of accidents. However, little research about the causes of these violations in work settings exists. To help shed light on the causes, this paper systematically reviews the empirical causes of safety violations in industry. Electronic database literature searches were performed to identify relevant articles published prior to January 1, 2007. Thirteen articles met the inclusion criteria and 57 different variables were examined as predictors of safety violations. Study settings were healthcare delivery, commercial driving, aviation, mining, railroad, and construction. The predictors were categorized into individual characteristics, information/education/training, design to support worker needs, safety climate, competing goals, and problems with rules. None of the reviewed studies examined whether violations can improve system performance or safety. Methodological suggestions and a macroergonomic framework are offered for improving future studies of the epidemiology of safety violations.

Job strain predicts survey response in healthcare industry workers

OBJECTIVES

To examine the effect of job strain on survey response.

METHODS

1,613 health care workers received a self-administered questionnaire. Thirty percent of them completed the survey on personal time without any personal monetary compensation. Working conditions were extracted by job title from the national database O*NET 6.0. Job strain was defined as the ratio of job demands to job control. Two complementary models (multi-level logistic and binomial pseudo Poisson regressions) were used to model individual survey response as a function of individual level demographic variables (age and gender), job-level socioeconomic status (SES) and job strain, and facility type (third level).

RESULTS

Survey response was associated with higher SES and with less job strain. The association of SES and survey response was mediated by job strain.

CONCLUSION

Employees' exposure to job strain may be an important influence on survey response, at least for workers who are not compensated for their time in completing a survey.

How Do Missing Data Bias Estimates of Within-Group Agreement? Sensitivity of SD WG, CVWG, rWG(J), rWG(J) * , and ICC to Systematic Nonresponse

In multilevel theory testing, estimation of group-level properties (i.e., consensus and diversity) is often complicated by missing data. Researchers are left to draw inferences about group constructs (e.g., organizational climate and climate strength) from the responses of only a subset of group members. This study analyzes the biasing impact of random and non-random missingness patterns on within-group agreement and reliability (standard deviation, coefficient of variation, rWG(J), r*WG(J), ADM, aWG , and intraclass correlation) across a range of response rates, numbers of items, and systematic missing data mechanisms. Results demonstrate biases up to 20% over- or underestimation for common response rates found in organizational research. Correction formulae are presented, which enable assessment of the sensitivity of multilevel results to survey nonresponse.

A meta-analysis of the antecedents and consequences of pay level satisfaction

This study reports results from a meta-analysis of 28 correlates of pay level satisfaction involving 240 samples from 203 studies conducted over the past 35 years. Results are presented in 4 categories: primary determinants, antecedents, correlates, and outcomes of pay satisfaction. The authors controlled for pay in examining relations between correlates and pay level satisfaction, as suggested by theory and when primary studies were available to do so. The authors found support for many of the relations suggested by a theoretical model and also note some limitations in the research that has tested this model. The authors recommend changes and additions to the model and suggest additional primary research in specific areas.