Essay Instructions: Path Diagrams
• Smith, S. (n.d.). Creating Path Diagrams. Retrieved March 2, 2012 at http://www.utexas.edu/research/pair/diagrams.htm
The following paper presents a theoretical model that includes an IV, a DV, a moderator, and a mediator. Reading this paper will help you understand the links between theoretical ideas and a graphical depiction of theoretical relationships between variables that can be translated into research:
• Chen, G., Ployhart, R. E., Thomas, H. C., & Anderson, N. (2011). The power of momentum: A new model of dynamic relationships between job satisfaction change and turnover intentions. Academy of Management Journal, 54, 159-181.
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Please begin by reading the Required Background Readings. As you read Chen et al. (2011), probe the match between the literal description of a research project (note how the researchers describe the relationships between the variables) and its graphical depiction. This will help you become more familiar with the terminology used in such models as well as with the ways in which different variables (e.g., moderators and mediators) are represented in them.
Next, please review the three sets of abstracts and hypotheses at the bottom of this page titled Research Study 1, 2, and 3. Each is related to a different research study. Then, based on each abstract and set of hypotheses:
Create a path diagram for each research study
that would represent the relationships hypothesized within it.
Assignment Expectations
• Graphically represent three different models based on each abstract and/or hypotheses.
• Each model should include: (a) the names of the variables that appear in the abstract, (b) arrows that represent the direction of the relationship between each pair of variables, (c) a sign on each arrow that will indicate the valence of the relationship (i.e., positive or negative), and (d) the number that corresponds to each hypothesis to the left of the sign that indicates the directionality of the relationship.
• Finally, at the bottom of each model write the role that each variable plays in the model (i.e. dependent variable (DV), independent variable (IV), moderator, and mediator).
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Research Study 1
Abstract: This current research developed and tested a model of work engagement contagion in which the organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and competitive behaviors of coworkers influence employees’ engagement with their jobs. In a sample of 1,422 departments of an insurance firm, multilevel analysis revealed that coworkers’ OCBs and competitive behaviors explain variance in individual work engagement over and above that explained by other individual and group-level predictors. Broadly speaking, these results suggest that coworkers’ OCBs and competitive behaviors play critical roles in explaining why people are more engaged with their work. Implications are discussed.
Hypothesis 1: Coworkers’ OCB is positively related to work engagement.
Hypothesis 2: Coworkers’ competitive behaviors mediate the positive relationship between coworkers’ OCBs and focal employee work engagement.
Research Study 2
Abstract: Innovative behavior is increasingly important for an organization's' survival. Transformational leadership, in contrast to transactional leadership, has been argued to be particularly effective in engendering follower innovative behavior. However, empirical evidence for this relationship is scarce and inconsistent. Addressing this issue, we propose that follower psychological empowerment moderates the relationship of transformational and transactional leadership with follower innovative behavior. In a field study with 230 employees of a government agency in the Netherlands combining multisource ratings, we show that transformational leadership is positively related to innovative behavior only when psychological empowerment is high, whereas transactional leadership has a negative relationship with innovative behavior only under these conditions.
Hypothesis 1: Transformational leadership is positively related to follower innovative behavior.
Hypothesis 2: Transactional leadership is negatively related to follower innovative behavior.
Hypothesis 3: Psychological empowerment moderates the relationship between transformational leadership and follower innovative behavior.
Hypothesis 4: Psychological empowerment moderates the relationship between transactional leadership and follower innovative behavior.
Research Study 3
Abstract: Although the effects of authentic leadership on job performance and organizational commitment are well-documented, the mechanisms that explain those effects remain unclear. The results of our study support a model whereby indirect effects supplement the direct effects of authentic leadership on job performance and organizational commitment, through the mechanism of job characteristics, intrinsic motivation and goal commitment.
Hypothesis 1: Authentic leadership is positively related to follower task performance and organizational commitment.
Hypothesis 2: Authentic leadership is positively related to follower perceptions of core job characteristics.
Hypothesis 3: Follower perceptions of core job characteristics are positively related to follower intrinsic motivation.
Hypothesis 4: Follower intrinsic motivation is positively related to follower task performance and organizational commitment
Hypothesis 5: Follower perceptions of core job characteristics are positively related to follower goal commitment.
Hypothesis 6: Follower goal commitment is positively related to follower task performance and organizational commitment.
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