Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

5-2004

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Major Professor

Robert T. Ladd

Committee Members

David Woehr, Mike Rush, Eric Sundstrom

Abstract

The present dissertation investigates the degree to which personality and work situational variables are related to how employees respond to dissatisfaction in the work place based upon the EVLN (Exit, Aggressive Voice, Considerate Voice, Loyalty, and Neglect) model. On the basis of previous research and the underlying dimensions of the model, it was hypothesized that four personality variables (i.e., self-control, extraversion, proactive personality, and positive affect) and six work situational variables (i.e., prior job satisfaction, investment size, quality of job alternatives, leader support, perceptions of procedural justice, and perceptions of distributive justice) would be significantly related to the five responses to job dissatisfaction as proposed by the EVLN typology. Additionally, it was hypothesized that the personality predictors would explain incremental variance in the EVLN response categories beyond what could be attributed by the situational factors alone. The participants consisted of 156 professionals from a wide variety of industries (e.g., business managers, lawyers, teachers, nurses). Using an online survey, this study investigated the relationships between these predictors and the five EVLN response categories utilizing correlations, hierarchical multiple regression analysis, and importance analysis. Both the personality and work situational variables demonstrated several significant hypothesized relationships with the five response categories. Furthermore, the personality predictors significantly explained unique variance in four of the five EVLN response categories beyond what could be attributed by the situational factors alone. Moreover, the personality predictors were better predictors of aggressive voice, considerate voice, and neglect responses, whereas the work situational predictors were stronger predictors of the exit and loyalty responses. Practical implications, potential limitations, and future directions for research are presented.

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