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Perspectives from 22 countries on aspects of the legal environment for selection are presented in this article. Issues addressed include (a) whether there are racial/ethnic/religious subgroups viewed as "disadvantaged,” (b) whether research documents mean differences between groups on individual difference measures relevant to job performance, (c) whether there are laws prohibiting discrimination against specific groups, (d) the evidence required to make and refute a claim of discrimination, (e) the consequences of violation of the laws, (f) whether particular selection methods are limited or banned, (g) whether preferential treatment of members of disadvantaged groups is permitted, and (h) whether the practice of industrial and organizational psychology has been affected by the legal environment

Full Text, Thesis (PhD Doctorate), Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology (PhD ClinPsych), School of Psychology, Griffith Health, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) is now recognised as a chronic condition that continues into adulthood. A great deal of research has been done to validate the diagnosis in adults, but studies of the neuropsychological, psychological and functional outcomes of adults with AD/HD have been inconsistent. In addition, there is an assumption that underlying neurological deficits are responsible for the poor functional outcomes found among adults with AD/HD, yet this association has not been demonstrated empirically. Sixteen adults with AD/HD, Inattentive subtype, 16 adults with AD/HD, Combined subtype, and 30 control adults matched to the AD/HD adults by gender, age, years of education and estimated IQ were compared on a battery of attention, memory, and executive functioning tests. A number of methodological changes were made in an attempt to address the limitations of previous studies, and to characterise adult AD/HD more accurately. In addition all participants completed self report inventories of depression, anxiety, stress, social, vocational, family/home, and financial functioning. The relationships between variables were examined to determine whether neuropsychological deficits are related to functional outcomes in the AD/HD group.

Full Text, Thesis (PhD Doctorate), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), School of Psychology, Griffith Health, Numerous theoretical perspectives have been proposed to describe the aetiology of occupational stress, and decades of empirical research have demonstrated its associations with various work and individual characteristics. Furthermore, the high individual, organisational, and societal costs of occupational stress are well documented. Theoretical and practical implications of this research have been limited, however, due to the reliance on cross-sectional, non-experimental designs and the pathogenic focus of occupational health research. Drawing on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001), this research aimed to investigate longitudinal associations amongst job demands, job resources, coping, engagement, work-related burnout, and psychological strain. A stress management intervention designed to reduce strain and promote engagement specifically within a high-stress occupation (corrective services employees) was also evaluated. Therefore, this research addressed the dearth of evaluations of the longitudinal stress process, positive well-being outcomes (engagement), and stress management interventions.

Full Text, Thesis (PhD Doctorate), Doctor of Philosophy in Organisational Psychology (PhD OrgPsych), School of Psychology, Griffith Health, The aim of this research program was to investigate how a final work integrated learning (WIL) placement for nursing students influences three variations of personenvironment fit (viz. professional fit, person-organisation, and person-job fit), and its relationship with career-related outcomes (viz. occupational commitment, job and organisational attraction, job and organisational choice intentions). While personenvironment fit (viz. professional fit, person-organisation fit, person-job fit) is one of the most commonly investigated phenomena in organisational research, limited research has investigated its causes and consequences within the WIL context. Thus, this thesis was designed in response to as yet unanswered questions concerning the causes of personenvironment fit and its consequence on career-related outcomes for the nursing profession. The focus of this thesis was Australian undergraduate nurses who completed a final WIL placement prior to their transition to practice in the workplace. Given that the nursing profession is currently experiencing a nationwide skills shortage, and high graduate turnover, this investigation was intended to offer additional understanding into graduate retention and job choice. Three studies were designed to investigate the relationship between WIL, personenvironment fit (viz. professional fit, person-organisation fit, and person-job fit) and careerrelated outcomes (viz. transition to practice self-efficacy, occupational commitment, job and organisational attraction, and job and organisational pursuit intentions). The first study was concerned with validating the measurement approach used for several constructs that have known conceptualisation and measurement limitations (i.e., professional fit, occupational commitment, transition to practice self-efficacy, social support, structured support, general self-efficacy, job and organisational attraction). The first study examined the discriminant III validity of each measure, and in

Full Text, Thesis (PhD Doctorate), Doctor of Philosophy in Organisational Psychology (PhD), School of Psychology, Griffith Health, Over the past decade, there have been numerous claims in the popular media relating to having fun at work, touting a plethora of benefits for both individuals and organisations that have to date not been empirically investigated. Thus far, any research related to fun in the workplace has often been indiscriminate with its use of terms, interspersing fun with humour and play, thus adding confusion to an already inadequately defined construct. The aim of this research is two fold: to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the construct to differentiate and define fun in a work context, and to measure the perceived impact of having fun in the workplace. In order to locate fun as a unique construct, literature related to fun, humour and play/playfulness was reviewed and positioned in a nomological net utilising a three phase framework consisting of presage, process and product (3P). Four studies in this research program investigated the domain of fun activities in the workplace, the underlying structure of the construct, the process of having fun and the perceived impact of fun specifically in relation to job satisfaction, stress reduction, effectiveness and workplace relationships. Results identified a domain of 15 distinct fun activities. Using multidimensional scaling, an underlying structure of four neighbourhood clusters (humour and play, informal socialising, formal socialising and organisational activities) and two dimensions (contextual connections with others and activity structure and intensity) were identified. The investigation of the process of fun was conducted by examining case vignettes using the 3P framework. Results suggest the experience of fun at work is activity based, with an emotionally qualitative dimension that is highly socially interactive and engaging. The organisational context for fun appears to be embodied in supportive iv management and colleagues, positive team dynamics and a non stressed environment. The participant experiencing

Full Text, Thesis (PhD Doctorate), Doctor of Philosophy in Organisational Psychology (PhD), School of Psychology, Faculty of Health, The objective of this research is to demonstrate that measures of social structure can be used to enhance participant involvement in system change. The research concerns the application of graph theory based software to the measurement of network aspects of social capital in communities and in non-profit organisations, and with evaluating the short-term outcomes of specific organisational interventions. The epistemological framework being used in this research project is action research. Action research is real world or applied research as opposed to psychological research that might take place in a laboratory or other controlled environment. In general it is regarded as a qualitative rather than a quantitative research method. As a principle the people potentially affected by a social change intervention are directly involved in the action research. Action research does challenge traditional epistemological views of what constitutes legitimate science. In conventional science the expert researcher stays within the boundaries of their own discipline, follows strict scientific method setting up a hypothesis, developing an approved methodology, gathering and analysing data, producing a report and hoping that someone else will act on this expert information. This is not so in action research. In terms of the epistemological validity of action research, the process addresses themes rather than hypotheses and the role of the researcher is intimately involved in the change process. The learning that is developed is about both content and process thought of as an epistemological framework (F), transformed into a methodology (M) to research an area of concern (A), resulting in learning about F, M and A. In the action research process the researcher is more of a facilitator of the learning process than an expert. The use of techniques to identify social structures and the possibility of simulating proposed interventions using data generated by judgements of likely outcomes

Full Text, Thesis (PhD Doctorate), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), School of Psychology, The purpose of this thesis was to investigate prediction of senior leader transformational leadership behaviour. Transformational leadership was identified as a major theory with substantial practical implications for economic prosperity. It was argued that a better understanding of what predicts transformational behaviour would assist in creating a lift in the effective application of the theory with attendant benefits for all organisational stakeholders. It was proposed that personality components would predict transformational behaviour. Personality was conceptualised in two ways: as components of the Five Factor Model of personality and as personality disorder components. Specifically, eight personality constructs were hypothesised as predictors. They were three Hogan Personality Inventory based Five Factor Model components and the five Hogan Development Survey personality disorder components. It was further proposed that self-subordinate rating agreement would moderate the prediction of transformational behaviour by the selected personality components. A survey research methodology was used to gather data from senior Australian organisational executive leaders. Two samples were accessed while subjects were attending training or strategy seminars. The samples incorporated a total of 462 individual senior leader subjects and 1,881 of their subordinates drawn from the top four levels of a range of large multi-level public and private Australian organisations. It was argued that the sample validly represent a senior executive cohort of organisational leaders. Subject leaders completed a brief demographic questionnaire, the leader version of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, and either the Hogan Personality Inventory or the Hogan Development Survey. Subjects' subordinates completed the rater version of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Transformational behaviour was operationalised as charisma, which was calculated as the mean of two subordinate rate

Full Text, Thesis (PhD Doctorate), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), School of Applied Psychology (Health), This program of research was aimed at investigating a novel application of computer aided text analysis (CATA). To date, CATA has been used in a wide variety of disciplines, including Psychology, but never in the area of personnel selection. Traditional personnel selection techniques have met with limited success in the prediction of costly training failures for some occupational groups such as pilot and air traffic controller. Accordingly, the overall purpose of this thesis was to assess the validity of linguistic style to select personnel. Several studies were used to examine the structure of language in a personnel selection setting; the relationship between linguistic style and the individual differences dimensions of ability, personality and vocational interests; the validity of linguistic style as a personnel selection tool and the differences in linguistic style across occupational groups. The participants for the studies contained in this thesis consisted of a group of 810 Royal Australian Air Force Pilot, Air Traffic Control and Air Defence Officer trainees. The results partially supported two of the eight hypotheses; the other six hypotheses were supported. The structure of the linguistic style measure was found to be different in this study compared with the structure found in previous research. Linguistic style was found to be unrelated to ability or vocational interests, although some overlap was found between linguistic style and the measure of personality. In terms of personnel selection validity, linguistic style was found to relate to the outcome of training for the occupations of Pilot, Air Traffic Control and Air Defence Officer. Linguistic style also demonstrated incremental validity beyond traditional ability and selection interview measures. The findings are discussed in light of the Five Factor Theory of Personality, and motivational theory and a modified spreading activation network model of semantic memory and knowledge. A general conclusion

Full Text, Thesis (PhD Doctorate), School of Applied Psychology (Health), The program of research presented in this thesis focuses on the construct of employee turnover. It is argued, despite the intense interest that employee turnover has attracted (Cotton & Tuttle, 1986; Griffeth, Hom & Gaertner, 2000), that turnover theory and research suffers from a number of notable shortcomings. These shortcomings primarily stem from the development and study of employee turnover models that attempt to make predictions for all individuals, at all times and across all places (Lee & Mowday, 1987). It is proposed that three shortcomings need to be addressed, specifically the need to develop employee turnover models that are organisationally specific, including predictors that are particularly relevant to the context under study and consideraton of the impact of career stage and gender on this process. Given the argument that employee turnover models need to be developed according to organisational context, a specific organisational population was identified for study in this research program. The current research program focused on a sample population of police officers employed in an Australian police organisation. This population was chosen due the paucity of research that has investigated turnover and turnover intention processes within the policing context and in light of the practical implications, specifically the significant financial cost, associated with police turnover. In addition to addressing the three key shortcomings of employee turnover theory and literature as identified above, the current program of research also addressed a number of limitations that are specifically relevant to police turnover research. This research represents an important contribution to the existing body of police specific turnover research due to the limited attention that the study of employee turnover within the policing context has attracted. Furthermore, the current research program studied large sample populations of Australian police officers given that pr