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Article: Does the Need to Belong Moderate the Relationship Between Perceptions of Spirit of Camaraderie and Employees’ Happiness?

Authors: Amernio Rego, Solange Souto & Miguel Pina e Cunha
What research question (s) or hypothesis did the study address?
The main purpose of the authors for formulating the paper is to highlight how the perception of spirit of camaraderie can explain the 5 different dimensions of the employee’s affective well-being and how the mentioned relationship is moderated with the help of the employees’ need to belong (Rego et al, 2009). In line with the main purpose of the article, the authors listed the following hypothesis that they aim to address in the study: (1) Employees with positive perceptions about spirit of camaraderie in their organizations tent to experience higher Affective Well-being (AWB) (Rego et al. 2009). (2) The second hypothesis presented in the paper is the effect of the need to belong which moderates the relationship between the perception of spirit of camaraderie and Affective Well-being. In line relation to the statement, those who are reported with a lower need to belong, employees with a high need to belong, therefore, experience higher AWB when they perceive high spirit of camaraderie and lower AWB if the employees perceive lower spirits of camaraderie (Rego et al., 2009).

What constructs did the researchers study, and how did they arrive at their definitions of their constructs?

The three main components the research focused on are spirit of camaraderie, affective well-being, happiness and the need to belong. In order to highlight the working definition of each of the components the researchers consulted various literatures that tackle the elements. In order to arrive in a specific application of the concepts, the researcher focused on the application of the components in the workplace. The researchers then established a relationship between the mentioned elements.
The researchers focused on studying the antecedents of worker happiness by focusing on its relationship with affective well-being. The work domain is used to measure the relationship although the construct is multidimensional. In relation to the primary construct of the study, the researchers also decided to show how employees’ perceptions of spirit of camaraderie provide an explanation for AWB. The relationship is also moderated by another component which is the need to belong.
Evaluate the merits of their arguments in support of their definition of their constructs and what tests did the researchers used to measure their constructs.
In order to demonstrate their construct, the researchers collected a total of 327 employees as their sample. These employees belonged to three different classes and were also participants in a training module that focused on organizational behavior and human resource management. The measures used for the study are as follows:
Spirit of Camaraderie: The researchers used a four 6-point Likert items which were derived from a recent study conducted by Rego and Cunha in 2007. The purpose of the likert test was to measure the authentizotic organization (as cited by Kets de Vries, 2001).
Affective Well-Being: The authors used an instrument validated by Daniels in 2000 which comprises of five dimensions. The five dimensions were then further measured by using six items where three of the items expressed the frequency of negative affect while the remaining measured the frequency of positive effect. In order to analyze the five dimensions, the authors used the confirmatory factor analysis.

What information on the psychometrics and prior use of the measure did the researchers used to measure the construct

The researchers described the measures by mentioning how many items were included in each of the tests. The authors also added previous studies that used the same measures and how the contents and items were all subjected into content analysis and validated by other various authors. As discussed in item no 4, for example, the test used to measure the AWB was initially validated in 2000 by Daniels.
Given the information offered on the psychometrics and prior use of the measures, are the measures appropriate for measuring the construct add addressing the research questions?
Based on the psychometric properties of the measures used, the two tests used are effective since first it measured what were intended to be measured. The data collected from the tests were subjected to the analysis and were able to produce results that the authors discussed in the paper. The tests were also able to correlate various dimensions such as all the AWB dimensions which resulted to a positive and significant intercorrelatedness with the spirit of camaraderie. With the help of the exams, the authors were able to garner quantitative representation of the components they wanted to measure.
Could you locate the sources the authors cite on the previous psychometric properties of their instruments? Yes, the previous psychometric properties and components of the measures used were readily available in the study. By including this properties the authors were able to make the readers see the historical context of the tests used and how they are the appropriate measures to be used in the specific study.
Could you find additional information on the measures in the library? Since the measures were also initially used during the 2000s, I can still find additional information about it in the library. Although, I was not able to find the original study that contained the discussed tests. For instance, earlier researcher about the measure for spirit of camaraderie mentioned that reliability coefficient for the scales is higher than . 70 and in the present study by the authors it even accounted for a Cronbach’s alpha of . 79.
What did you learn from the mini literature review? Based on the information presented by the authors, I learned that organizations are indeed significant contributors to the happiness felt by its people. The organization is an important component for the promotion of the affective well-being of its people. Some of the factors described in the component of the organization’s role include the individual dispositions of the employees and the preceding organizational climate.
What more would you like have known? It would have been better if the author also tested and made literature reviews in the other dimensions in AWB. Since as discussed in the paper, there are five dimensions, it could have been better if there was a deeper literature review on each of the dimensions in order for the readers to understand which amongst the dimension could be contributing the most in the affective well-being and happiness of an individual.

What have you learned from this assignment that you will apply to evaluating research articles

I learned how important it is to do an extensive research on not only the dimensions that will be discussed in the paper but also the measures and instruments that would utilized. It is important since it makes the research more credible and reliable.

Article: Patterns and Personality Correlates of Implicit and Explicit Attitudes Toward Christians and Muslims.

Authors: Wade C. Rowatt, Lewis Franklin & Marla Cotton
The primary research question that the researchers were trying to address in the study is to examine whether or not some of the religious and social-responsibility which will eventually constructs know with both prejudice and ethnocentrism. Some of the listed prejudices examined by the researcher were social dominance, right-wing authoritarianism and religious fundamentalism. According to the researcher their primary hypothesis was to a correlation between the attitudes towards the two religions. The aim was to provide a better understanding of the social-personality correlates of each construct that will be discussed (Rowatt et al, 2005). .
The construct use by the authors in the studies is the assessment of both the implicit and explicit evaluations of two religious groups (Christian & Muslims) which falls within the predominantly Christian population of the United States (Rowatt et al, 2005). The study focused on discovering a possible correlation between both the religious and social-personality construct with prejudice and ethnocentrism. Before even creating a dimension for the social personality, the researchers began defining what they meant by implicit and explicit attitudes. According to the researchers, explicit attitudes included expressed evaluative reactions that operate on more conscious level and can be traditionally measure using various multi-item self-report scales. On the other hand, the context of the implicit attitudes include relatively automatic evaluations that usually assumed to operate outside of an individuals’ conscious awareness.
3.
In order to measure the constructs, the researchers made use of various available literatures that focuses on the implicit and explicit attitude towards the two focused religion. The authors categorized attitudes based on the two attitudes. The instruments that were used in the studies are the following: the Christian- Muslim Implicit Association test which is defined as a Microsoft Windows-based software program was mentioned to be used to measure the implicit Christian-Muslim attitudes. While in order to measure the social-personality dimensions the following were used: The Religious Fundamentalism Scale, The Right Wing Authoritarianism Scale, Christian Orthodoxy Scale, The Attitudes Toward Christianity Scale, The Attitudes Toward Muslims Scale, The Anti-Arab Racism Scale, The Social Dominance Orientation Scale, Measures of Intrinsic, Extrinsic, and Quest religious orientations, The Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (Rowatt et al, 2005). .
4. For each of the scales used in the study, the authors provided the number of items, the measures that each of the scale wishes to measure and the reliability of the scales. For example, the balanced inventory of desirable responding is intended to measure impression management which comprises of 20 items and the other measure it intends is self-deceptive enhancement with 20 items. The scale uses a conventional scoring method after using reverse-keying appropriate items.
5. All the scales used in the research were effective in measure the various dimensions of the social spectrum. The correlation and information gathered from the measures were used by the author to establish their discussion which their conclusion was derived.
6. The listed citations by the authors in the study can be located in the internet however it was difficult to find them in hardcopies because they were used more than a decade ago. Based on the listed citations of the instruments, their primary purposes were to assess the implicit and explicit attitudes toward both the Christians and Muslims. In order to utilize properly the quantified attitudes, the author added an examination of known personality correlates of both prejudice and ethnocentrisms which accounted for the difference in the attitudes presented. As a result of their intensive study, the authors were able to formulate the Christian-Muslim IAT that together with the self-report measures were able to assess the information needed for the correlations (Rowatt et al, 2005).
7. Other information about the exams used in the study was difficult to find. Since the tests were used in 1997. I had a difficult time looking for additional information about the exams. However, based on the other available literature pertaining to the measures used in the study, some of the exams are actually helpful in establishing patterns in terms of the social identity theory. There could also be a possible alternative interpretation for the measure devised by the authors themselves. As discussed by the authors, they used the IAT in this specific study to be primary piece of evidence of the implicit preference for Christian relatives compared to Muslims.
8. From the mini-literature review, I learned that the scales and dimensions used in the study were constructed in the pass in order to address the growing concerns in religious stereotyping. They aim to help people understand how variation in religious perception can escalate to unwanted prejudices.
9. I would have liked to know how the measures were constructed in the pass and what were the literatures used to confirm the content of the exams. It could have been better for the readers for them to know the historic implication of the measures used. In addition, the history between Christian- Muslim relations, according to the authors, based on observation has varied widely in different components such as peaceful dialogues. The study is definitely beneficial in providing a better understanding on how people’s attitude towards the two religions can either promote peace or create bigger problems in the future. As the authors mentioned there is still hope in improving the relationship between the two religions.
10. The important lesson that I have learned from this specific article is the need to filter all the information that you will be using in your research. For example, the topic of the research is extremely sensitive especially because of the current happenings in today’s research. In research it is important to use credible sources because the results of the study will be used for future researches. As revealed by the study, there is a consistent pattern in terms of social identity theory wherein the Christians’ implicit and explicit evaluations of the in-group are more in favor than their implicit and explicit of the other groups.

Reference:

Rego et al. (2009). Does the Need To Belong Moderate the Relationship Between Perceptions of
Spirit of Camaraderie and Employees’ Happiness? Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. 2009, Vol. 14, No. 2, 148–164
Rowatt et al (2005). Patterns and Personality Correlates of Implicit and Explicit Attitudes
Toward Christians and Muslims. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (2005) 44(1): 29–43