4539510
Transformational leadership as an antecedent of change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior
This study draws on a general framework of proactive motivation to propose and test a model that evaluates the influence of the individualized consideration dimension of transformational leadership and organizational climate on change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior. In this model, individuals' cognitive emotional states (role breadth self-efficacy and felt responsibility for constructive change) act as mediating variables. For the first time in the literature, this paper develops a model of leadership and organizational climate antecedents of organizational citizenship behavior. Using a sample of 602 Spanish employees with higher education, the structural equation modeling indicates that the proposed model fits reasonably well to the data. Research results show that all hypotheses are significant, thus confirming the results of previous research that finds mediated relations between transformational leadership and other dimensions of organizational citizenship behavior.
14564386
Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: A Critical Review of the Theoretical and Empirical Literature and Suggestions for Future Research
The rapid growth of research on organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) has resulted in some conceptual confusion about the nature of the construct, and made it difficult for all but the most avid readers to keep up with developments in this domain. This paper critically examines the literature on organizational citizenship behavior and other, related constructs. More specifically, it: (a) explores the conceptual similarities and differences between the various forms of “citizenship” behavior constructs identified in the literature; (b) summarizes the empirical findings of both the antecedents and consequences of OCBs; and (c) identifies several interesting directions for future research.
144420417
Change-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors: the direct and moderating influence of goal orientation
Abstract Organizational learning in a retail setting relies on the motivation of boundary-spanning retail associates to identify and implement organizationally functional changes with respect to work methods, policies, and procedures within the context of their jobs, stores, or organizations-referred to as change-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). A theoretical model of situation and person antecedents of change-oriented OCBs is developed and tested with a sample of 183 full-time boundary-spanning employees of a national retail sales organization. The results reveal that learning goal orientation and leader-member exchange quality are direct positive antecedents of these behaviors. The results also demonstrate interesting Person × Situation interactions. Direct relationships between transformational or contingent reward leadership behaviors and change-oriented OCBs are moderated by employee performance goal orientation. A positive relationship between organizational commitment and change-oriented OCBs is moderated by employee learning goal orientation. Contingent reward leadership and transformational leadership behaviors also have indirect positive relationships with change-oriented OCBs via leader-member exchange quality.
154753541
Entrepreneurship in the informal economy: commercial or social entrepreneurs?
Recent research has revealed that a large proportion of entrepreneurs start-up their ventures operating on a wholly or partially off-the-books basis. Until now, it has been commonly assumed that those who operate in the informal economy are exclusively commercial entrepreneurs. They are assumed to be rational economic actors who weigh up the benefits of operating off-the-books against the costs of being caught and decide to operate in this manner. The aim of this paper is to evaluate critically this a priori assumption. Reporting evidence from a 2005/6 survey involving face-to-face interviews with 102 informal entrepreneurs in Moscow in Russia, the finding is that such entrepreneurs are not purely commercially driven. Examining their rationales, informal entrepreneurs are found to range from purely rational economic actors pursuing for-profit logics through to purely social entrepreneurs pursuing purely social logics, with the majority somewhere in-between combining both for-profit and social rationales. Neither do their logics remain static over time. What begins as a commercial entrepreneurial venture may become more socially oriented over time or vice versa. So too do their logics vary socio-spatially. Those living in deprived populations are more socially-orientated, whilst those in relatively affluent populations are comparatively more profit-driven. The outcome is a call for a more nuanced explanation of the complex and heterogeneous logics of informal entrepreneurs.
143646811
Change‐oriented organizational citizenship behavior: effects of work environment characteristics and intervening psychological processes
Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) has attracted major research effort for the last two decades. The vast majority of studies of OCB have been devoted to affiliative forms of such behavior including interpersonal helping, courtesy, and compliance, which are intended to maintain and reinforce the status quo. The present study attends to another form of OCB that challenges the status quo through suggestions for constructive changes in work methods, processes, and policies. This study identifies a set of workplace characteristics that predict change-oriented OCB. Multi-level analyses of large-scale longitudinal data showed that strong vision and innovative climate predicted change-oriented OCB via both individual- and cross-level processes. These contextual influences were mediated by two intervening variables: psychological empowerment and felt responsibility for change. The results suggest that change-oriented OCB is significantly predicted by only organizational characteristics. Group-level dynamics may be less important for understanding challenging types of OCB than for affiliative types such as helping or compliance. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
36040733
Leader-Member Exchange as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Transformational Leadership and Followers' Performance and Organizational Citizenship Behavior
We developed a model in which leader-member exchange mediated between perceived transformational leadership behaviors and followers' task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors. Our s...
143631546
Supervisor trust building, leader-member exchange and organizational citizenship behaviour.
This study employed social exchange and equity theory to investigate the connection among supervisor trust building activity, leader-member exchange (LMX) quality, and subordinate organizational citizenship behaviours (OCB). Survey data were collected from 86 subordinate-supervisor dyads employed in a variety of organizations. First, perceived fairness emerged as the supervisor trust building behaviour most closely associated with OCB. Contrary to the prediction, fairness perceptions were not positively associated with LMX quality. Finally, LMX quality was positively related to subordinate OCB. Social exchange and equity theory were used to interpret the findings. Implications and future research directions are outlined.
145383957
Organizational Justice and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Mediated Multifoci Model †
This research explores the differential effects of multifoci organizational justice perceptions on organizational citizenship behavior. Based on data collected from 217 employee—supervisor dyads, our findings clarify the bi-focal nature of distributive and procedural justice, illuminate the mono-focus of interpersonal justice, and support the premise that justice investments yield exponential behavioral responses that are sometimes mediated by the quality of the employee— supervisor relationship.
143613024
Evaluating competing theories of street entrepreneurship: some lessons from a study of street vendors in Bangalore, India
Conventionally, street entrepreneurs were either seen as a residue from a pre-modern era that is gradually disappearing (modernisation theory), or an endeavour into which marginalised populations are driven out of necessity in the absence of alternative ways of securing a livelihood (structuralist theory). In recent years, however, participation in street entrepreneurship has been re-read either as a rational economic choice (neo-liberal theory) or as conducted for cultural reasons (post-modern theory). The aim of this paper is to evaluate critically these competing explanations for participation in street entrepreneurship. To do this, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 871 street entrepreneurs in the Indian city of Bangalore during 2010 concerning their reasons for participation in street entrepreneurship. The finding is that no one explanation suffices. Some 12 % explain their participation in street entrepreneurship as necessity-driven, 15 % as traditional ancestral activity, 56 % as a rational economic choice and 17 % as pursued for social or lifestyle reasons. The outcome is a call to combine these previously rival explanations in order to develop a richer and more nuanced theorisation of the multifarious motives for street entrepreneurship in emerging market economies.
144360218
Taking Charge At Work: Extrarole Efforts to Initiate Workplace Change
In this study, we investigated a neglected form of extrarole behavior called taking charge and sought to understand factors that motivate employees to engage in this activity. Taking charge is disc...
154480082
Marketing and organisational development in e-SMEs: understanding survival and sustainability in growth-oriented and comfort-zone pure-play enterprises in the fashion retail industry
Following calls to explore organisational development in a fashion retail marketing context this paper conceptualises and explains how 14 fashion retailers operating purely online have developed their enterprises via a six-stage approach, through which they moved at various speeds, either in a linear sequence or concurrently. Effective strategies to secure sustainability for comfort-zone and growth-oriented enterprises are identified, including the development of online portfolios which acknowledges the presence of habitual entrepreneurship in fashion electronic retailing. This paper represents the first in-depth multiple case study into independent, successful pure-players marketing clothing, footwear and accessories categories online. A qualitative case approach is employed from a social constructionist perspective. Rich data is generated via in-depth interviews with owner-managers. Results are developed through thematic qualitative analysis and theoretical contributions are based on data saturation across cases and fashion categories, thus offering strong horizontal and vertical credibility. Findings stress the role of developing internet-technology competencies, strategic marketing and service capabilities in the quest for successful e-retailing in pure-play enterprises, alongside overseas market development and demonstrate an emphasis on planning for the small firm. The current findings therefore differentiate this group of enterprises from the majority of small firms accused of poor technology utilisation/competency, lack of planning and weak marketing. The paper provides strong understanding of the complexities of organisational development in pure-play retailing. That these firms have navigated the recent recession and that many have survived online for over 10 years emphasises the importance of the strategic directions explained in this paper to the marketing/entrepreneurship interface.
154820461
An applied organizational rewards distribution system
Purpose – How can managers optimally distribute rewards among individuals in a job group? While the management literature on compensation has established the need for equitable reimbursements for individuals holding similar positions in a function or group, an objective grounding of rewards allocation has certainly escaped scrutiny. This paper aims to address this issue.Design/methodology/approach – Using an optimization model based on a financial rubric, the portfolio approach allows organizations to envision human capital assets as a set (i.e. a team, group, function), rather than independent contractors. The portfolio can be organized and managed for meeting various organizational objectives (e.g. optimizing returns and instrumental benefits, assessing resource allocations).Findings – This research introduces an innovative portfolio management scheme for employee rewards distribution. Akin to investing in capital assets, organizations invest considerable resources in their human capital. In doing so, o...
53962454
Making Things Happen: A Model of Proactive Motivation
Being proactive is about making things happen, anticipating and preventing problems, and seizing opportunities. It involves self-initiated efforts to bring about change in the work environment and/or oneself to achieve a different future. The authors develop existing perspectives on this topic by identifying proactivity as a goal-driven process involving both the setting of a proactive goal (proactive goal generation) and striving to achieve that proactive goal (proactive goal striving). The authors identify a range of proactive goals that individuals can pursue in organizations. These vary on two dimensions: the future they aim to bring about (achieving a better personal fit within one’s work environment, improving the organization’s internal functioning, or enhancing the organization’s strategic fit with its environment) and whether the self or situation is being changed. The authors then identify “can do,” “reason to,” and “energized to” motivational states that prompt proactive goal generation and sustain goal striving. Can do motivation arises from perceptions of self-efficacy, control, and (low) cost. Reason to motivation relates to why someone is proactive, including reasons flowing from intrinsic, integrated, and identified motivation. Energized to motivation refers to activated positive affective states that prompt proactive goal processes. The authors suggest more distal antecedents, including individual differences (e.g., personality, values, knowledge and ability) as well as contextual variations in leadership, work design, and interpersonal climate, that influence the proactive motivational states and thereby boost or inhibit proactive goal processes. Finally, the authors summarize priorities for future research.
144237028
DETERMINANTS OF INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOR: A PATH MODEL OF INDIVIDUAL INNOVATION IN THE WORKPLACE
The present study integrated a number of streams of research on the antecedents of innovation to develop and test a model of individual innovative behavior. Hypothesizing that leadership, individual problem-solving style, and work group relations affect innovative behavior directly and indirectly through their influence on perceptions of the climate for innovation, we used structural equation analysis to test the parameters of the proposed model simultaneously and also explored the moderating effect of task characteristics. The model explained approximately 37 percent of the variance in innovative behavior. Task type moderated the relationship between leader role expectations and innovative behavior.
154715443
Volunteer management: an exploratory case study within the British Red Cross
Purpose – Increasingly, post credit crunch, organisations are seeking to develop new ways of attracting, recruiting and retaining staff in the UK high street for less or even no financial reward. The aim of this paper is to investigate volunteerism and volunteer management, based on an exploratory case study of two British Red Cross (BRC) shops. It also aims to examine the reasons why people volunteer and why they keep doing so in the context of BRC, as a charitable organisation.Design/methodology/approach – An exploratory case was used to gain an insight into how BRC recruit and retain volunteer staff. This was achieved by interviewing volunteers and the shop management personnel. An overview of BRC structures, strategic direction and views on volunteerism is also developed as part of the case study.Findings – Exploratory findings from the research show that people decide to volunteer mainly for a variety of reasons such as social interaction, to carry out work that is valued in the local community and f...
145444205
Proactive Behavior in Organizations
Many practitioner-oriented publications argue that managers should be more proactive on the job, and that proactive behavior is an increasingly important component of job performance. Organizational research on the antecedents and consequences of proactive behavior has appeared in several different literatures and has taken different approaches toward defining, measuring, and understanding proactivity. In this article, I review a diverse set of literatures that directly address proactive behavior in organizational contexts. I describe four constructs related to proactive behavior: proactive personality, personal initiative, role breadth self-efficacy, and taking charge. Next, I review six research domains that have explicitly addressed proactive behaviors: socialization, feedback seeking, issue selling, innovation, career management, and certain kinds of stress management. After considering findings from these research streams, I offer an analysis of the different approaches to the study of proactive behavior and provide a set of suggestions for future research. © 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
144079024
Promoting felt responsibility for constructive change and proactive behavior: exploring aspects of an elaborated model of work design
Although new theoretical models that are suggestive of how work design might be used to foster proactive motivation and proactive performance have been proposed, these models need further elaboration and testing if they are to be useful tools for contemporary organizations. Accordingly, we examine the extent to which feelings of responsibility for constructive change is a proactive psychological mechanism that explains how work design characteristics influence constructive change-oriented behavior and proactive performance. Specifically, we examine job autonomy, position in the organizational hierarchy, access to resources, access to strategy-related information, and role ambiguity as antecedents to felt responsibility for constructive change (FRCC). We also examine the extent to which feelings of responsibility for constructive change are positively related to voice behavior (i.e., constructive, change-oriented communication) and continuous improvement (i.e., proactive role performance). Results indicate hierarchical position and access to resources are positively related to FRCC. Results also indicate proactive personality moderates the relationship between access to resources and FRCC and the relationship between access to strategy-related information and FRCC. Plots of the interactions reveal that these relationships are enhanced for individuals with proactive personalities. The results also indicate that FRCC is positively related to voice behavior and continuous improvement. Perhaps more importantly, the results suggest that FRCC explains the psychological process by which structural and socio-structural forces influence proactive behavior. The results are discussed as they pertain to updated work design theory and theories of high involvement work systems, job characteristics, and leadership prototypes. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
143703434
Change driven by nature: A meta-analytic review of the proactive personality literature
Abstract This study provides the first comprehensive review of literature examining proactive personality. The authors use career success as a broad organizing framework, meta-analyzing 313 correlations from 107 studies. Results indicate proactive personality is positively related to objective and subjective career success. Further, results indicate proactive personality relates to variables consistent with contest mobility (e.g., job performance) and sponsored mobility (e.g., taking charge/voice behavior) avenues to career success. Proactive personality’s relationship with supervisor-rated overall job performance is particularly noteworthy in that it is stronger than that reported for any of the Big Five factors or the Big Five collectively. Proactive personality is positively related to a variety of employability-related variables (e.g., learning goal orientation, career self-efficacy), four Big Five trait factors (extraversion, openness to experience, conscientiousness, and neuroticism), but is unrelated to social desirability. The authors’ literature review indicates only the original 17-item scale and 10-item scale tend to exhibit good internal consistency.
168119728
SELLING ISSUES TO TOP MANAGEMENT
The time and attention of top management in an organization are critical, but limited, resources. This article develops insights on issue selling as a process that is central to explaining how and where top management allocates its time and attention. We see issue selling as a critical activity in the early stages of organizational decision-making processes. We first clarify the value of understanding issue selling at the individual and organizational levels and from both symbolic and instrumental perspectives. We then develop a framework for describing and studying issue selling in organizations that draws on three different theoretical perspectives: issue selling as upward influence, issue selling as claiming behaviors, and issue selling as impression management. We use the different perspectives to develop a set of testable research propositions. The article concludes with a discussion of practical and theoretical implications of the issue-selling framework.
42941908
Modeling the antecedents of proactive behavior at work.
Using a sample of U.K. wire makers (N = 282), the authors tested a model in which personality and work environment antecedents affect proactive work behavior via cognitive-motivational mechanisms. Self-reported proactive work behaviors (proactive idea implementation and proactive problem solving) were validated against rater assessments for a subsample (n = 60) of wire makers. With the exception of supportive supervision, each antecedent was important, albeit through different processes. Proactive personality was significantly associated with proactive work behavior via role breadth self-efficacy and flexible role orientation, job autonomy was also linked to proactive behavior via these processes, as well as directly; and coworker trust was associated with proactive behavior via flexible role orientation. In further support of the model, the cognitive-motivational processes for proactive work behavior differed from those for the more passive outcome of generalized compliance.
8420357
Enhancing role breadth self-efficacy: the roles of job enrichment and other organizational interventions.
Role breadth self-efficacy (RBSE) refers to employees' perceived capability of carrying out a broader and more proactive set of work tasks that extend beyond prescribed technical requirements. A newly developed scale of RBSE was internally consistent and distinct from the related concepts of proactive personality and self-esteem. In an initial cross-sectional study (N = 580), work design variables (job enrichment, job enlargement, and membership of improvement groups) were the key organizational predictors of RBSE. These investigations were repeated in a second cross-sectional study (N = 622) and extended by examining change over time (N = 459). The longitudinal analysis showed that increased job enrichment and increased quality of communication predicted the development of greater self-efficacy.
198065920
Effect of ITC on the International Competitiveness of Firms
Purpose – This paper’s aim is to evaluate the effect of the use of information technology and communications (ITC) on the international competitiveness of firms in developing countries. The study also seeks to evaluate other factors that allow or condition the use of ITC such as: human resources, collaboration of the industrial sector, and local environment.<br><br>Design/methodology/approach – These effects are examined through an empirical research of 100 small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from a developing country – Peru.<br><br>Findings – SMEs from developing countries follow an isomorphic approach. This is because they tend to imitate or copy the better practices from developed countries. The results have shown that ITCs have a positive effect on the international competitiveness of firms.<br><br>Research limitations/implications – A limitation is the cross-sectional character of this research.<br><br>Practical implications – Firms use ITC to manage their inventory, for the communication between manufacturers and offices, and suppliers, for bill payments, and for the management of sales and marketing, and for the management of their networks.<br><br>Originality/value – According to the literature reviewed, this study is one of the pioneers in contrasting empirically whether the use of ITC contributes positively to the international competitiveness of firms in the developing countries of Latin America.
145736131
Shopfloor innovation: Facilitating the suggestion and implementation of ideas
Despite increasing recognition of the importance of fostering innovation among shopfloor employees, little empirical research has been conducted on the topic. Moreover, within work psychology, studies have tended to focus on the generation of ideas (creativity) rather than on their implementation. This study examines the impact of individual perceptions of individual, group and organizational factors on both elements of innovation. It was found that the suggestion of ideas was more highly related to individual (personal and job) characteristics than the group and organizational characteristics; whereas the implementation of ideas was more strongly predicted by group and organizational characteristics. As expected, interactions were found between the number of suggestions made and group and organizational characteristics, demonstrating how successful implementation of new ideas requires both their formulation in the first place and an appropriately supportive environment. Analysis to explore which factors have the greatest impact on the innovation process was also conducted. The practical, theoretical and methodological implications of the study are discussed.
144225835
Challenging the status quo : What motivates proactive behaviour?
To replicate and extend previous research regarding antecedents of proactive behaviour at work, we examined four forms of work motivation (job self-efficacy, role breadth self-efficacy, intrinsic work motivation and role orientation) in a sample of 98 employees in software development using co-worker rated proactive behaviour as an outcome. Correlations indicate that whereas intrinsic motivation and job self-efficacy were not related to co-worker rated proactive behaviour, role orientation and role breadth self-efficacy showed significant relationships. This study stresses the importance of role breadth self-efficacy in enhancing proactive behaviour at work.
15392695
The role of market and technological knowledge in recognizing entrepreneurial opportunities
Purpose – Opportunity recognition is an important aspect on entrepreneurship, especially for technology‐based ventures. Drawing on Austrian economic theory, recent studies have emphasized the importance of market knowledge in opportunity recognition. Although insightful, these studies do not take account of relationships that exist between different types of knowledge (e.g. technology and market knowledge). The authors aim to address this gap by integrating the Schumpeterian theory of opportunity development with Kirzner's theory of opportunity discovery to examine these relationships.Design/methodology/approach – The data consist of a longitudinal sample of 42 new biotechnology ventures from the USA, Finland, and Sweden.Findings – The paper finds that both market knowledge and technological knowledge (measured as the number of patents) contribute to firms' subsequent recognition of entrepreneurial opportunities.Originality/value – The results show the value and importance of early market knowledge and te...
154703907
Higher education and the development of competencies for innovation in the workplace
Purpose – This paper aims to analyze the production function nexus between higher education practice and the development of innovation‐related competencies by university graduates in Spain. The research hypothesis is the presence of statistically significant relationships between the development of innovational competencies and the modes of teaching and learning used in higher education practice.Design/methodology/approach – The relationships are modeled through a set of stochastic frontier and variance component equations with the development of each competency as the dependent variable. The main explanatory variables capture the prevalence of diverse teaching/learning modes and the behavior of graduates during their studies. Controls for individual and study programs are also included. Data comes from the European graduate survey REFLEX and includes about 5,500 records.Findings – Estimates show evidence of significant marginal effects of the teaching and learning modes and the development of specific co...
56348233
Dimensions of transformational leadership: Conceptual and empirical extensions
This study identified aspects of transformational leadership theory that have resulted in a lack of empirical support for the hypothesized factor structure of the model, and very strong relationships among the leadership components. We proposed five more focused subdimensions of transformational leadership including vision, inspirational communication, intellectual stimulation, supportive leadership, and personal recognition. Confirmatory factor analyses provided support for the hypothesized factor structure of the measures selected to assess these subdimensions, and also provided support for the discriminant validity of the subdimensions with each other. After controlling for the effects of common method variance, a number of the subdimensions of transformational leadership demonstrated significant unique relationships with a range of outcomes. Results provided initial support for the five subdimensions of transformational leadership that were identified.
144012267
The Effect of Negation and Polar Opposite Item Reversals on Questionnaire Reliability and Validity: An Experimental Investigation
This research was concerned with the effect of item wording on questionnaire reliability and validity. The subjects were 280 business undergraduate students who read a scenario describing a hypothetical leader's behavior and then completed one of four different questionnaires to describe that leader. Comprising the experimental treatments, the questionnaires included four different types of items: regular (e.g., "I am happy"), polar opposite (e.g., "I am sad"), negated polar opposite (e.g., "I am not sad"), and negated regular (e.g., "I am not happy") items. The results indicated significantly lower coefficient alpha internal-consistency reliabilities for the polar opposite and negated polar opposite items as compared with those for the regular and negated regular items. Using accuracy scores, one-way analyses-of-variance and posthoc directional t-tests showed the same results for validity of measurement. Implications for future questionnaire development and research are briefly considered.
153447482
Environmental disclosure management: a constructivist case
Purpose – The aim of this paper is to present a framework to create a better understanding of the context and to aid the environmental disclosure management process. The paper seeks to present a case study illustrating the proposed methodology for assessing environmental disclosure management.Design/methodology/approach – The ProKnow‐C process is used to identify the opportunities in the literature and the MCDA‐C methodology is used in order to build up the environmental disclosure management (MED) model.Findings – First the ProKnow‐C process was used to identify opportunities in the literature about environmental disclosure and later the MCDA‐C methodology was used to discover the opportunities and to show a process for generating actions to promote improvement in environmental disclosure.Practical implications – The case study allowed the manager to develop an understanding of environmental disclosure, showing that organizational performance is the key factor according to managers' perception. This know...
8002679
Cognitive interviewing: verbal data in the design and pretesting of questionnaires.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this paper is to discuss problems that occur in questionnaire responses and how cognitive interviewing can be used to identify problematic questions prior to using the questionnaire in the field.


BACKGROUND
Questionnaire design involves developing wording that is clear, unambiguous and permits respondents successfully to answer the question that is asked. However, a number of problems in relation to respondents' understanding and successfully completing questionnaires have been identified. Cognitive interviewing, an amalgamation of cognitive psychology and survey methodology, has been developed to identify problematic questions that may elicit response error. The overall aim is to use cognitive theory to understand how respondents perceive and interpret questions and to identify potential problems that may arise in prospective survey questionnaires.


METHODS
A literature review is used to examine the process of questionnaire design and how cognitive interviewing can be used to reduce sampling error and increase questionnaire response rates.


FINDINGS
Cognitive interviewing involves interviewers asking survey respondents to think out loud as they go through a survey questionnaire and tell them everything they are thinking. This allows understanding of the questionnaire from the respondents' perspective rather than that of the researchers. Cognitive interviews have been used in a number of areas in health care research to pretest and validate questionnaires and to ensure high response rates. Interviewing has been found to be highly effective in developing questionnaires for age specific groups (children and adolescents) and in ascertaining respondents' understanding in health surveys prior to distribution. However, cognitive interviews have been criticized for being overly subjective and artificial.


CONCLUSION
Cognitive interviews are a positive addition to current methods of pretesting questionnaires prior to distribution to the sample. They are most valuable in pretesting questions that are complex, where questions are sensitive and intrusive and for specific groups for whom questionnaire completion may pose particular difficulties.
145740592
Self-Reports in Organizational Research: Problems and Prospects
Self-reports figure prominently in organizational and management research, but there are several problems associated with their use. This article identifies six categories of self-reports and discusses such problems as common method variance, the consistency motif, and social desirability. Statistical and post hoc remedies and some procedural methods for dealing with artifactual bias are presented and evaluated. Recommendations for future research are also offered.