Organizational Behavior Application Guide for PsycINFO^®

Studying the behavior of organizations and of individuals within organizational settings is critical to business success in the 21st century and can provide support for leadership training, human resource management, and global development.

PsycINFO^®, with its wealth of research on such topics as power, employee motivation, organizational decision making, job satisfaction, workplace diversity, conflict resolution, management learning, citizenship behavior, feedback and rewards, stress and burnout, quality of work life, and work-team dynamics, can be a vital tool in developing competencies and supporting the forward direction of this field.

Example 1: How ethical leadership shapes organizational commitment

Scandals involving large corporations in recent years have led to calls for greater attention to ethical behavior within organizations, particularly among organizational leaders. A research area of interest is how ethical behavior among leaders impacts the climate of an organization and the behavior of its employees, including employees' organizational commitment. A PsycINFO search using the terms Ethical Leadership and Organizational Commitment yields results including the following relevant results:

• Caldwell, C.; Hayes, L. A.; Long, D. T. (2010). Leadership, trustworthiness, and ethical stewardship. Journal of Business Ethics, 96, 497–512. doi:10.1007/s10551-010-0489-y
• Tanner, C., Brügger, A., van Schie, S., & Lebherz, C. (2010). Actions speak louder than words: The benefits of ethical behaviors of leaders. Zeitschrift für Psychologie/Journal of Psychology, 218, 225–233. doi: 10.1027/0044-3409/a000032
• Neubert, M. J., Carlson, D. S., Kacmar, K. M., Roberts, J. A., & Chonko, L. B. (2009). The virtuous influence of ethical leadership behavior: Evidence from the field. Journal of Business Ethics, 90, 157–170. doi:10.1007/s10551-009-0037-9

Example 2: The impact of work-life balance on employee satisfaction

As employers face greater instances of employee burnout and stress, the promotion of work-life balance has become a priority within organizations. Examining the impact of work-life balance on employee attitudes and productivity can guide the development of effective workplace policies. Searching PsycINFO with the index term Job Satisfaction and adding the index terms Family Work Relationship or Quality of Work Life yields a search results set that includes:

• Ergeneli, A., Ilsev, A., & Karapinar, P. B. (2010). Work-family conflict and job satisfaction relationship: The roles of gender and interpretive habits. Gender, Work and Organization, 17, 679–695. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0432.2009.00487.x
• Morganson, V. J., Major, D. A., Oborn, K. L., Verive, J. M., & Heelan, M. P. (2010). Comparing telework locations and traditional work arrangements: Differences in work-life balance support, job satisfaction, and inclusion. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 25, 578–595. doi:10.1108/0268394101 1056941
• Ollier-Malaterre, A. (2010). Contributions of work-life and resilience initiatives to the individual/ organization relationship. Human Relations, 63, 41–62. doi:10.1177/0018726709342458

Example 3: How businesses use outsourcing to increase organizational effectiveness

More companies are turning to outsourcing in order to reduce costs, tap into available resources, and increase efficiency. Research has grown on managing outsourcing relationships and the effects of this practice on organizational performance. A PsycINFO search strategy using the terms Outsourcing and Organizational Effectiveness yields a search results set that includes:

• Li, Y. Wei, Z., & Liu, Y. (2010). Strategic orientations, knowledge acquisition, and firm performance: The perspective of the vendor in cross-border outsourcing. Journal of Management Studies, 47, 1457–1482. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00949.x
• Qu, W. G., Oh, W., & Pinsonneault, A. (2010). The strategic value of IT insourcing: An IT-enabled business process perspective. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 19, 96–108. doi:10.1016/ j.jsis.2010.05.002
• Tjader, Y. C. (2010). Managing outsourcing decisions — government policy, firm options, and the economic impact. (Doctoral Dissertation). Retrieved from PsycINFO. (AAI3384959)

From the Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms

Human Resources Management

• Affirmative Action
• Disability Management
• Diversity in the Workplace
• Downsizing
• Employee Benefits
• Executive Coaching
• Employee Assistance Programs
• Employee Retention
• Employee Turnover
• Employment Discrimination
• Employment Tests
• Job Applicant Screening
• Job Security
• Labor Market
• Organizational Climate
• Outsourcing
• Personnel Evaluation
• Personnel Recruitment
• Personnel Selection
• Personnel Termination
• Telecommuting
• Virtual Teams

Management

• Business Ethics
• Labor Management Relations
• Leadership Style
• Management Decision Making
• Management Methods
• Management Planning
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Participative Management
• Supervisor Employee Interaction
• Top Level Managers

Organizational Development

• Organizational Change
• Organizational Commitment
• Organizational Effectiveness
• Organizational Learning
• Organizational Objectives
• Organizational Structure

Staff Training

• Career Development
• Computer Training
• Management Training
• On the Job Training
• Professional Development
• Personnel Training
• Sensitivity Training
• Groupware

Employee and Job Characteristics

• Career Change
• Employee Efficiency
• Employee Productivity
• Employee Skills
• Experience Level
• Job Performance
• Job Satisfaction
• Occupational Adjustment
• Occupational Aspirations
• Occupational Health
• Occupational Stress
• Occupational Success
• Peer Evaluation
• Personality Traits
• Private Sector
• Public Sector
• Work Load
• Work Teams
• Workaholism
• Working Conditions
• Working Women
• Workplace Violence

• DeConinck, J. B. (2010). The effect of organizational justice, perceived organizational support, and perceived supervisor support on marketing employees' level of trust. Journal of Business Research, 63, 1349–1355. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2010.01.003
• Ganster, D. C., & Perrewé, P. L. (2011). Theories of occupational stress. In J. C. Quick & L. E. Tetrick (Eds.). Handbook of occupational health psychology (2nd ed., pp. 37–53). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
• Harter, J. K., Schmidt, F. L., Asplund, J. W., Killham, E. A., & Agrawal, S. (2010). Causal impact of employee work perceptions on the bottom line of organizations. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5, 378–389. doi:10.1177/1 745691610374589
• Haugh, H. M., & Talwar, A. (2010). How do corporations embed sustainability across the organization? Academy of Management Learning & Education, 9, 384–396.
• Hester-Smith, L. V. (2010). An investigation of the relationship between job satisfaction and isolation among telecommuters. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section A. Humanities and Social Sciences, 1001.
• Kacmar, K. M., Collins, B. J., Harris, K. J., & Judge, T. A. (2009). Core self-evaluations and job performance: The role of the perceived work environment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94, 1572–1580. doi:10.1037/a0017498
• Kochanowski, S., Seifert, C. F., & Yukl, G. (2010). Using coaching to enhance the effects of behavioral feedback to managers. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 17, 363–369. doi:10.1177/1548051809352663
• Krischer, M. M., Penney, L. M., & Hunter, E. M. (2010). Can counterproductive work behaviors be productive? CWB as emotion-focused coping. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 15, 154–166. doi:10.1037/a0018349
• McGurk, P. (2010). Outcomes of management and leadership development. Journal of Management Development, 29, 457–470. doi:10.1108/02621711011039222
• Ng, T. W. H., & Feldman, D. C. (2010). Organizational tenure and job performance. Journal of Management, 36, 1220–1250. doi:10.1177/0149206309359809
• Perry, S. J., Witt, L. A., Penney, L. M., & Atwater, L. (2010). The downside of goal-focused leadership: The role of personality in subordinate exhaustion. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95, 1145–1153. doi:10.1037/a0020538
• Sheaffer, Z., Carmeli, A., Steiner-Revivo, M., & Zionit, S. (2009). Downsizing strategies and organizational performance: A longitudinal study. Management Decision, 47, 950–974. doi:10.1108/00251740910966677
• Umphress, E. E., Bingham, J. B., & Mitchell, M. S. (2010). Unethical behavior in the name of the company: The moderating effect of organizational identification and positive reciprocity beliefs on unethical pro-organizational behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95, 769–780. doi:10.1037/a0019214
• Weber, C., & Göbel, M. (2010). Reciprocity and interorganizational governance—A multicase analysis of exchange systems. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 26, 134–150. doi:10.1016/j.scaman.2010.01.004