ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0056-9064

Keywords

occupational passion, perceived dissimilarity, psychological safety, job satisfaction

Abstract

This dissertation explores the impact of perceived self-to-team dissimilarity in occupational passion-intensity on individual-level outcomes among workgroup members in organizational contexts. Grounded in need-to-belong theory, moralization theory, and equity theory, the outcomes examined include job satisfaction, turnover intentions, involvement in task-conflict, and psychological safety. Additionally, results via three methods for measuring self-to-team similarity and/or dissimilarity were compared. Two self-report online questionnaires separated by one week were administered to 530 adult workers from the US, Canada, and the UK, across a wide variety of industries. Based on a final sample of N = 483, structural equation models—each corresponding to one method for measuring self-to-team (dis)similarity—were retained after minimal respecifications of correlated residuals. Local fit and global fit were acceptable for each model (CFI > .950, RMSEA ≤ .052). Findings revealed that the effects of perceived self-to-team (dis)similarity were statistically significant—though the size of those effects were somewhat small across this dissertation’s models, which controlled for one’s occupational passion-intensity and perceived self-to-team general similarity and/or dissimilarity. Further, in comparing the effects via the three methods for measuring self-to-team similarity and/or dissimilarity, results showed small differences between the direct similarity versus the direct dissimilarity method, except for the differential effects on psychological safety which were much stronger using the direct dissimilarity method. Locally estimated scatterplot smoothing (LOESS) curves showed the direct similarity method produced relatively straight relationships with all outcome variables, whereas the direct dissimilarity method produced noticeably curved relationships (resembling a quadratic function) with job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Furthermore, the indirect method produced stronger effects than either of the direct methods, though other mathematical techniques for comparing these two types may yield different conclusions. Implications are discussed for theory on occupational passion, as well as praxis on how to staff and train workgroups.

Completion Date

2024

Semester

Fall

Committee Chair

Burke, Shawn

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree Program

Industrial–Organizational Psychology

Format

PDF

Identifier

DP0029030

Language

English

Release Date

12-15-2024

Access Status

Dissertation

Campus Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

Accessibility Status

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