There is a large body of literature supporting the notion that demographic similarity affects important outcomes at work. However, demographic similarity is often measured at the individual level even though it occurs between pairs of individuals or within a group.

Similarity as a construct in psychological research: similarity judgments changes as we age and gain experience, also, similarity judgments change as the context changes. Applied research includes P-O fit. For instance, Kristof’s (1996) review indicated that supplemental fit was related to job choice, work attitudes, and the intention to remain on the job. Another theory is Schbeider’s (1987) influential attraction-selection-attrition framework. The similarity-attraction paradigm is complemented by social identity (Tajfel & Turner, 1986) and self-categorization theory (Turner, 1987), which proposed that our self-concepts are in part formed by the groups to which we think we belong.

Research on demographic similarity and evaluation: several studies prove evidence that demographic similarity effects fade over time or as people get to know each other. Collectively, this research and theory suggests that the interpersonal interactions that naturally occur over time mitigate the effects of demographic dissimilarity.

Operationalizing the demographic similarity effects: 1) interaction in the ANOVA framework, which needs the equal number of raters and ratees. 2) perceived similarity 3) Euclidian distance (being criticized on a host of conceptual and methodological gorunds), 4) interaction (suffered from repeated measurements).

The authors’ approach: HLM.

In Chen’s seminar: notes from his PPT:

1.      When we have nested data, and when non-independence occurs, it means we really have 2 variance components:

2.      Within-group variance = Level 1 variance = Individual-level variance (termed σ2)

•         σ2 indicates the sum of squared deviations of individual responses from their respective group means

3.      Between-group variance = Level 2 variance = Group-level variance (termed t00)

•         t00 indicates the sum of squared deviations of group means from the grand (overall sample) mean

4.      Unfortunately, in OLS regression, the error term (i.e. the standard error) focuses on the overall variance

5.      Level 1 and Level 2 variance components are collapsed into a single (overall) error term

6.      When testing nested and cross-level relationships, the overall error term is inappropriate

7.      Can either upwardly or downwardly bias the standard errors (and thus the significance tests)!

8.      When we test Level 1 – Level 1 relationships (i.e., nested individual-level relationships):•         The correct error term associated with the Level 1 predictor should focus on s2

•         The actual error term uses [t00 + s2] – too large!

•         This means that Type I errors in OLS regression will be artificially deflated (i.e., we’ll be less likely to detect significant effects, or have lower power)!

9.      When we test Level 2 – Level 1 relationships (i.e., cross-level relationships):•         The correct error term associated with the Level 1 predictor should focus on t00 + (s2/n)

•         The actual error term uses [(t00 + s2)/n] – too small!

•         This means that Type I errors in OLS regression will be artificially inflated (i.e., we’ll be more likely to detect significant effects, or have higher power)!

In the performance evaluation context, one rater gives ratings for multiple ratees, the between effect is the rater (interviewer effect), and the within effect is the ratee (e.g., the effects of applicant-level characteristics on ratings).

Method: 1) steps: from the null modelàintercept variance sig. or not? à predict the intercept à slope variance sig. or not? à predict the slope.

Centering: 1) grand mean; 2) group mean, 3) no centering. ß No correct centering approach, they can yield different results and different interpretations.

This research studied the effects of race and sex similarity on ratings in one-on-one highly structured college recruiting interviews (708 interviewers and 12,203 applicants for 7 different job families). A series of hierarchical linear models provided no evidence for similarity effects, although the commonly used D-score and analysis-of-variance– based interaction approaches conducted at the individual level of analysis yielded different results. The disparate results demonstrate the importance of attending to nested data structures and levels of analysis issues more broadly. Practically, the results suggest that organizations using carefully administered highly structured interviews may not need to be concerned about bias due to the mismatch between interviewer and applicant race or sex.

Some useful reference:Chatman, J.A., & Flynn, F.J. 2001. The influence of demographic heterogeneity on the emergence and consequences of cooperative norms in work teams.

Academy of
Management Journal, 44:956-974.Riordan, C.M. (2000). Relational demography within groups: Past developments, contradictions, and new directions. In G.R. Ferris (Ed.), Research in personnel and human resources management (Vol.19, pp.131-174).
New York:JAI Press.Riordan, C.M., & Shore, L.M. 1997. Demographic diversity and employee attitudes: an empirical examination of relational demography within work units. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82:342-358.

Social exchange (P. Blau, 1964) and the norm of reciprocity (A. W. Gouldner, 1960) have been used to explain the relationship of perceived organizational support and leader-member exchange with employee attitudes and behavior. Recent empirical research suggests that individuals engage in different reciprocation efforts depending on the exchange partner (e.g., B. L. McNeely & B. M. Meglino, 1994). The purpose of the present study was to further investigate these relationships by examining the relative contribution of indicators of employee-organization exchange and subordinate-supervisor exchange. Structural equation modeling was used to compare nested models. Results indicate that perceived organizational support is associated with organizational commitment, whereas leader-member exchange is associated with citizenship and in-role behavior.

To whom/what are employees attributing acts of injustice? They at least face two sources of justice. One is the immediate supervisor or manager, and the other is the organization as a whole. Scholars observed that individuals view themselves as having relationships with and obligations to both their supervisors and their employing organization. (Bishop & Scott, 2000; Bishop, Scott, & Burroughs, 2000).

Building from the work of Blau (1964), many scholars have argues that employees form relationships at work, and these relationship can be categorized into tow broad classes: economic and social. Economic exchange relationships are generally short term and social exchange relationships tend to be long term.

Strength of exchange relationships is influenced by the participants’ anticipated costs and benefits, (Homans, 1961; Thibaut & Kelley, 1959). Suspicion of others’ intension to live up to their exchange obligations may results from not only form recent mistreatment but also from a generalized fear of mistreatment in social exchange.

Eisenberger at al. (1987) identified reciprocation wariness as a generalized cautiousness in reciprocating aid stemming from a fear of exploitation in interpersonal relationships. However, when offered protection against mistreatment, wary individuals were more generous.

Because people tend to attribute other’ action to dispositional factors (Fiske & Taylor, 1991; E.E. Jones & Nisbett, 1972) and employees tent to personify the organization and its action (Levinson, 1965.), the willingness of the organization to live up tp exchange obligations would be doubted by reciprocation-wary individuals.

Reciprocation wariness is different from equity sensitivity. Individuals with high equity sensitivity show an increased concern that their ratio of gains to costs in exchange relationships be equivalent to that of others. They are highly accepting the norm of reciprocity (King et al., 1993). Reciprocity-wary individuals, in contrast, show average endorsement of the reciprocity norm. Further, they frequently underreciprocate aid for fear that their generosity will result in an escalating exchange relationship in which they will be mistreated (Eisenberger et al., 1987). It’s still different from the entitled individuals who show little discomfort from overreward. (King et al., 1993)

Results showed, when POS was low, reciprocation wariness is negatively related to in-role and extra-role job performance. With high POS, the relationship is positive. In deciding on their work effort, reciprocation-wary employees considered how much the organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being.

Hui, C., Lee, C., & Rousseau, D.M. 2004. Psychological contract and organizational citizenship behavior in
China: Investigating generalizability and instrumentality. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89:311-321. 

Psychological contracts constitute beliefs concerning the reciprocal obligations between employees and their employer (Rousseau, 1989). Psychological contracts can be operationalized from the perspective of the worker (Rousseau, 1990), the employer (Coyle-Shapiro, 2002), or both (Dabos & Rousseau, 2004).

Rousseau (1995) proposed two key features of Psy. Contract: time frame (short term or long term employment relationship) and performance requirements (low vs. highly specifies performance-reward contingencies). The two features underlie the framework operationalized in Rousseau’s (2000) Psychological Contract Inventory (PCI)

Here time frame is related to the long term or short term relationship. Will people be aware that they are dealing with long-term relationship and short-term relationship? Will the temporal construal influence their behavior? Say, the service delivery behavior? 

It was said that little examination has been done of how different psychological contract forms impact employee attitudes and behavior, such as OCB. Scholars have construed OCB as one way in which employees reciprocate the positive experiences they have with an employer. (Organ, 1990; Robinson & Morrison, 1995) However, employees may exhibit OCB with other motives beyond goodwill, they may have symbolic or instrumental purposes. Instrumentality—the belief that certain behaviors will lead to particular outcomes (Vroom, 1964)—is an important motivator of employee behavior, including extra-role behavior such as OCB.

They found evidence that instrumentality mediates the relationship of relational and balanced forms with OCB; however, the transactional contract form is directly related to OCB.

Three studies investigated the relationships among employees’ perception of supervisor support (PSS), perceived organizational support (POS), and employee turnover. These studies suggest that supervisors, to the extent that they are identified with the organization, contribute to POS and, ultimately, to job retention.

Q: what’s the difference between PSS and LMX? They origin from different theories, (organization support theory and social exchange theory/ role theory), however, it seems they are talking about the same thing.

Although the relationships between POS and organizational commitment, in-role job performance, and withdrawal behavior have been established, the mediating role of “feel of obligation” which is embedded in the social exchange theory was                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        still not assessed.

The authors found that POSà feel of obligation and positive mood à affective commitment, org. spontaneity, in-role performance, and withdrawal behavior. Exchange ideology moderates the effect from POS to feel of obligation.

Note the inclusion of positive mood in the model. The positive mood was measured used a two-item scale, which are energetic and cheerful. And the twp items come from Burke, Brief, George, Roberson, and Webster (1989). The argument that POS will enhance positive mood comes from George (1991). Here are the useful references.

Burke, Brief, George, Roberson, and Webster (1989). Measuring affect at work: Confirmatory analyses of competing mood structures with conceptual linkage to cortical regulatory systems. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57: 1091-1102.George, J.M. (1991). State or trait: effects of positive mood on prosocial behaviors at work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 76:299-307.George, J.M., & Brief, A.P. (1992), Feeling good-doing good: A conceptual analysis of the mood at work-organizational spontaneity relationship. Psychological Bulletin, 112:310-329.

POS and PC is related and distinct, although Aselage and Eisenberger (2003) have attempted to integrate POS and psychological contract theory, research on the tow frameworks has largely remained independent. Results support the distinctiveness of the 2 concepts. In terms of their interrelationships over time, by drawing on psychological contract theory the authors found little support for a reciprocal relationship between POS and psychological contract fulfillment. Under an alternative set of hypotheses, by drawing on organizational support theory and by separating psychological contract fulfillment into its 2 components (perceived employer obligations and inducements), the authors found that perceived employer inducements were positively related to POS, which, in turn, was negatively related to perceived employer obligations. The results suggest that POS and the components of psychological contract fulfillment are more important in predicting organizational citizenship behavior than psychological contract fulfillment.

Q: In the paper, there are no theoretical arguments behind why to unpack the concept of psychological contract fulfillment into two component elements, (i.e., perceived employer obligations and inducement)?

Although organizational justice has emerged as an extremely popular topic in I/O psychology, Greenberg and Lind (2000) noted that existing justice research has been designed primarily to inform theory development, and only secondarily, organizational practice. Most studies centered on the individual level factors, most often employees attitudes, while not examined unit-level or organizational level consequences. As described by Kozlowski and Klein (2000), “many phenomena in organizations have their theoretical foundation in the cognition, affect, behavior, and characteristics of individuals, which—through social interaction, exchange, and amplification—have emergent properties that manifest at higher levels” (p.15). 

This work examines the aggregation of justice perceptions to the departmental level and the business-unit level, the impact of these aggregate perceptions on business-unit-level outcomes, and the usefulness of the distinction between procedural and interpersonal justice at different levels of analysis. Latent variables analyses of individual-level and department-level data from 4,539 employees in 783 departments at 97 hotel properties showed that the 2 justice types exercise unique paths of impact on employees’ organizational commitment and thus on turnover intentions and discretionary service behavior. Business-unit-level analyses further demonstrate paths of association between aggregate justice perceptions, aggregate commitment levels, and the business-unit-level outcomes of employee turnover rates and customer satisfaction ratings.