It's Worth Reading

William R. Pasewark, University of Houston and Jerry R. Strawser, University of Houston

We would appreciate hearing from any section members with suggestions for papers you feel would be of interest to others and that should be included in this column in the future. Please send any citations to pasewark@rics1.cba.uh.edu or jerry@rics1.cba.uh.edu .

• Dunham, R. B., J. A. Grubo and M. B. Casteaneda, "Organizational Commitment: The Utility of an Integrative Definition," Journal of Applied Psychology (Vol. 79, No. 3, 1994), pp. 370-380.
  The authors perform a series of studies evaluating the potential existence of three different dimensions of organizational commitment. Affective commitment represents the employee's emotional attachment to the organization and has been commonly measured through the use of an Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ). Continuance commitment results from the benefits (or advantages) foregone by employees upon their departure from the organization. Finally, employees possessing high levels of normative commitment remain in the employ of the organization because of their feelings of obligation to do so. The results generally support the existence of three different dimensions of organizational commitment: however, some improvements in redefining existing scales measuring these three dimensions appear to be possible.
• Denes-Raj, V and S. Epstein, "Conflict Between Intuitive and Rational Processing: When People Behave Against Their Better Judgment," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Vol. 66, No. 6, 1994), pp. 819-829.
  Cognitive-experimental self-theory (CEST) posits that individual behavior is guided by two interactive, parallel processing systems. The rational system is a deliberative, analytical system that is guided by conventional rules of logic and evidence. In contrast, the experiential system is based on concrete examples derived from the individual(s)' past experiences. The extent to which one system dominates another in determining human behavior depends upon the degree of emotional attachment surrounding the behavior; as the emotional attachment increases, the influence of the experiential system increases vis-à-vis the rational system.

  CEST was examined through two studies utilizing undergraduate psychology students. In these studies, subjects were provided with two courses of action. These courses represented: (1) a low absolute/high percentage and (2) high absolute/low percentage likelihood of observing a desired event. The fact that subjects ignored base ratios and focused on absolute occurrences suggests that their behavior is guided primarily by experiential system processing. The primary conclusion of this study is that CEST may result in suboptimal decision making, particularly when the level of emotional attachment of subjects in the decision-making context is high.

• Mount, M. K., M. R. Barrick and J. P. Strauss, "Validity of Observer Ratings of the Big Five Personality Factors," Journal of Applied Psychology (Vol. 79, No. 2, 1994), pp. 272-280.
  Previous psychology research has identified five distinct personality characteristics: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and openness to experience. Two primary issues examined by previous researchers in isolated streams of research are: (1) to what extent were individuals' self-ratings of their personality characteristics consistent with observer ratings?; and (2) are certain personality traits highly related to performance measures? This study examined the personality ratings of 105 sales representatives as provided by both internal (the employee--him or herself) and external (the employee's supervisor, coworkers and customers) sources. The results of the analysis indicated that, for all but the emotional stability dimension, the ratings provided by external sources differed significantly from self-assessments. In addition, consistent with previous research, both conscientiousness and extraversion were significantly related to performance ratings provided by a superior. For all traits other than emotional stability, the ratings provided by external sources possessed a significant level of explanatory power beyond self-ratings. This finding indicates that job-relevant personality factors are valid predictors when assessed from the observers' perspective, but are less valid when assessed from the affected individual's perspective.

• Meyer, J. P., N. J. Allen and C. A. Smith, "Commitment to Organizations and Occupations: Extension and Test of a Three-Component Conceptualization," Journal of Applied Psychology (Vol. 78, No. 4, 1993), pp. 538-551.
  Organizational commitment represents the desire of an individual to maintain employment with (or membership in) an organization. Two recent developments related to organizational commitment have separately evolved in the organizational behavior literature. First, Allen and Meyer (1991) identified three sources of organizational commitment: affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment. Thus, rather than existing as a unidimensional construct, organizational commitment may be derived from a number of different sources. Second, a large number of studies distinguish organizational commitment from an individual(s)' level of commitment to a particular union, or occupation (occupational commitment). However, this latter group of studies distinguishes organizational commitment from an individual(s)' level of commitment to a particular union, or occupation (occupational commitment). This latter group of studies has not evaluated the potential existence of a similar, multi-dimensional conceptualization of occupational commitment.

  This study developed a set of items to measure three dimensions of occupational commitment and determine whether a multi-dimensional conceptualization (similar to that observed for organizational commitment) existed for occupational commitment. Data were gathered from a sample of student nurses and registered nurses related to their levels of organizational and occupational commitment (intentions to turnover, actual turnover, professional involvement and work performance). The results of the author(s)' analysis suggest that reliable measures of occupational commitment were differentially related to hypothesized antecedents and consequences of occupational commitment; and occupational commitment contributes beyond organizational commitment in explaining important consequences (such as turnover intentions).

• Quarles, R., "An Examination of the Work-Related Motivational Needs of Professional EDP Auditors," Advances in Accounting (Vol. 12, 1994), pp. 187-207.
  Previous research in auditing has established the importance of matching individual employees' needs with their work environment. However, one important group of professionals (EDP auditors) has been largely ignored by previous researchers. A sample of 116 members of a chapter of the EDP Auditors' Association responded to a questionnaire including demographic questions, areas of work activity, and the Job Choice Exercise (JCE) developed by Stahl and Harrell (1982). Their responses were compared to data obtained from Street and Bishop (1991) for non-EDP auditors.

  Examining the mean beta values indicated that EDP auditors had the greatest need for achievement, then power and finally affiliation. Comparing the responses of the EDP auditors to those of non-EDP auditors indicated that EDP auditors had greater needs for power and lesser needs for affiliation than non-EDP auditors. No significant differences were noted in these needs across type of organization, hierarchical position of the auditor, or gender of the auditor. These results suggest that for management to meet the motivational needs of auditors, the need for power should be emphasized for EDP auditors and the need for affiliation should be addressed for non-EDP auditors.

• Srinidhl, B., "The Influence of Segregation of Duties on Internal Control Judgments," Journal of Accounting, Auditing, and Finance (Vol. 9, No. 3, 1994), pp. 423-444.
  Previous research in auditing relating to the evaluation of a client's internal control structure has unequivocally demonstrated the importance of having important tasks performed by different individuals/departments (segregation of duties). One weakness of these studies is that a wide variety of duty segregation patterns is possible in accounting systems. For example, in drawing prescriptions from previous research demonstrating the importance of segregation of duties, it is important to know the relative importance of segregating various tasks. That is, is the segregation of authorization of transactions from execution of transactions more, less, or of the same importance as the segregation of execution of transactions from custody of the related assets?

  Forty practicing auditors affiliated with the same Big 6 accounting firm responded to a series of 12 different segregation of duties patterns. After viewing these patterns, subjects were asked to indicate the effectiveness of internal control structure using a seven-point Likert scale. The results of analyzing subject responses indicated that auditors significantly revised their internal control reliability assessments downward when incompatible functions were performed. In addition, it appears that auditors do distinguish between the segregation of different functions and this distinction is dependent upon the balance sheet account being evaluated.

• Schmit, M. R., and A. M. Ryan, "The Big Five in Personnel Selection: Factor Structure in Applicant and Nonapplicant Populations," Journal of Applied Psychology (Vol. 78, No. 6, 1993), pp. 966-974.
  Several studies have investigated the usefulness of the five-f actor model of personality in evaluating individuals during the personnel selection process. These five elements include: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and openness to experience. This study utilized factor analysis to test the stability of these five measures over two different populations. A twelve-item questionnaire (the NEO-FFI developed by Cost and McCrae, 1989) that utilizes these measures was given to 297 college students and 293 job applicants. Results indicate that the 12 questionnaire items loaded logically over the five factors in the student population. However, in the sample of job applicants, factors were not well defined. The authors contend that individuals change their personality test responses when they are attempting to create certain impressions (such as an ideal employee).

• Schultz, A. K-D., and R Booth, "The Effects of Presentation Format on the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Auditors' Analytical Review Judgments," Accounting and Finance (Vol. 36, No. 1, 1995) pp. 107-131.
  This study investigates the differences in effectiveness and efficiency of analytical review judgments when the auditor is presented with different data formats. Thirty-three subjects were presented with a two stage task. In the first stage, the subject was asked to use client data to predict an account balance. Next, the subject was asked to express their level of confidence concerning the prediction. The conditions of the task differed in the way that information was presented to the subject. Under one circumstance, the subject was given graphical data to make the prediction; alternatively, the subject was given tabular data. The study found inconclusive results concerning the accuracy of account balance predictions made by subjects. In addition, no differences were found between confidence levels of subjects when different presentation formats were used to make predictions. On the other hand, the study did find that subjects worked more efficiently when they were presented with graphical, rather than tabular, data.