The popular press and consulting reports claim that organizations with gender equity are rewarded with a more productive workforce. Nevertheless, despite extensive research on the antecedents of the gender pay gap, we know little about how the organization-level gender pay gap relates to labor productivity, particularly when considered alongside other interrelated human resource systems such as the work-life balance practices of the organization. Drawing on scholarship on multilevel strategic human resource processes that shape labor productivity, we theorize that organization-level gender equity is positively associated with labor productivity such that in firms with gender-equitable pay, alongside work-life balance, employees (regardless of gender) collaborate and collectively deploy human capital, increasing labor productivity. Data from 611 US firms and 6,255 UK firms suggest that the gender pay gap is negatively related to labor productivity, regardless of whether the country permits pay-gap secrecy (US) or requires organizations to publicly disclose their gender pay gaps (UK). Organizations' gender pay gaps are also associated with the labor productivity trajectory: labor productivity decreased over time in organizations with greater gender pay gaps, but did not change significantly over time in organizations with moderate or lower gender pay gaps. Furthermore, organizations' gender pay gap and work-life balance interact, such that labor productivity is greatest in organizations with lower pay gaps and higher work-life balance. The results support the business case for gender equality-organizations with lower gender pay gaps and higher work-life balance exhibit higher labor productivity.

While a proliferation of management practices have been implemented in organizations in recent decades to create equitable and high performing workforces, there has been little to no progress toward diverse managerial representation during this timeframe. Our review contrasts the effectiveness of management practices for increasing diverse representation in management with how often these practices are utilized in organizations, centrally implicating ineffective management practices for the slow pace of change in diversifying managerial ranks. Specifically, we unveil that organizations predominantly implement ineffective and counterproductive practices that undermine managerial diversity while infrequently implementing practices that increase managerial diversity. For example, paid diversity roles (e.g., chief diversity officer), formal mentoring programs, and DEI-focused recruitment are among the most effective practices but are infrequently implemented in organizations. In contrast, diversity and harassment training and grievance procedures are frequently utilized in organizations but are negatively related to diverse representation. We also provide examples of organizations implementing multiple effective practices and making meaningful progress toward diversifying their workforces.

In 1959, Donald Kirkpatrick addressed the American Society of Training and Development, where he proposed a four-level model for training evaluation—reactions, learning, behavior, and results. The levels offer a practical solution for evaluating training effectiveness, providing guidance on measuring multiple metrics and ensuring that evaluation efforts contribute to business. However, Kirkpatrick’s framework has been criticized for being atheoretical, and the model’s assumptions have been disproven repeatedly over the past twenty-five years. Yet Kirkpatrick’s framework is still the most frequently cited approach for evaluating training and continues to impact research and practice. To advance the field beyond Kirkpatrick’s framework, researchers such as the authors of Sitzmann and Weinhardt 2019 (in “Approaching Evaluation from a Multilevel Perspective: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Indicators of Training Effectiveness,” cited under Attrition from Training) have proposed a more comprehensive training evaluation framework. Capturing a breadth of effectiveness indicators is essential to understanding the reasons behind ineffective training and to optimize its impact. However, it is improbable that any evaluation endeavor will encompass all possible metrics. According to Kraiger 2002 (in Decision-Based Evaluation, cited under Training Reputation), the initial step in any evaluation effort is to question the purpose of the evaluation. For instance, is the aim to determine which employees have achieved task proficiency, identify changes in learners, assess the overall organizational benefits of training, pinpoint areas for training improvement, or achieve another objective? Once the purpose is established, the training evaluation should begin by addressing the specific construct that aligns directly with that objective. For example, if the goal is to determine which employees have achieved task proficiency by the end of the training, learning assessments should be conducted to compare post-training skill levels. However, if the purpose is to understand why employees are not proficient in trained skills by the end of the course, learning should be measured over time to identify when the learning deficiency occurred. After evaluating a single outcome, this framework can be used to determine if other benefits have also been derived from the training. In the following sections, we review the indicators of training effectiveness. We first focus on training utilization, attrition from training, and training reputation. Next, we review affective outcomes: satisfaction, self-efficacy, and motivation. Subsequently, we turn to additional outcomes of training: learning, human capital, training transfer, organizational and team performance, and financial impact.

Leaders who don't fit the model of traditional and historical leaders (i.e. are not both white and men) often face issues of identity as well as differential treatment compared to their white male peers. Through a series of empirical papers, this symposium explores issues of leader identity, leadership aspiration, and the experiences of women and underrepresented minority leaders, with special emphasis on how our field needs to adapt to better serve these populations of leaders, as well as how leadership research can be more inclusive and more intersectional. Join to learn more about contemporary and cutting-edge research on underrepresented leaders as well as to discuss the future of leadership research. (In)congruence in Agentic and Communal Behaviors on Leadership Identity Author: Michelle Hammond; Oakland U. Author: Greg Thrasher; Oakland U. Author: Gretchen Renee Vogelgesang; San Jose State U. Author: Michael E. Palanski; Rochester Institute of Technology Improving Leadership Aspirations among Underrepresented Minorities Author: Elizabeth Demissie Degefe; Fuqua School of Business, Duke U. Author: Ashleigh Shelby Rosette; Duke U. Women Leaders' Identity Content (In)Congruence and the Beneficial Role of Ambiguity Tolerance Author: Anna Barthel; Kiel U. Author: Claudia Buengeler; Kiel U. When Remote Work Reduces the Sexual Harassment and Turnover Intentions of Women Leaders Author: Jessica Kirk; U. of Memphis Author: Stefanie Johnson; U. of Colorado, Boulder Author: Traci Sitzmann; U. of Colorado, Denver Author: Devalina Nag; U. of San Diego

The recent Academy of Management Perspectives article "Rethinking Diversity Strategies: An Application of Paradox and Positive Organization Behavior Theories," by David Waldman and Jennifer Sparr characterizes diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategies as a paradox between diversity and unity. We are concerned by the incendiary and imprecise adoption of core terms (e.g., woke, woke-washing, unity) and the dearth of engagement with existing scholarship—specifically, critical race theory, positive organizational scholarship, and DEI scholarship. In this Exchange, we posit that their article yields potentially harmful conclusions for DEI. We write this commentary to clarify definitions, bodies of literature, and diversity strategies. Maintaining scholarly standards is particularly important in diversity research because inaccuracies have real-life implications for some of society's most vulnerable and marginalized communities.

As online graduate programs in psychology continue to proliferate, it is important to understand the research addressing the effectiveness of online graduate education so as to advise stakeholders in these programs: applicants, students, faculty, and institutions. In this article, we examine the effectiveness of online education in psychology at two levels of analysis. First, we examine empirical evidence at the course level: Do online, hybrid, and face-to-face instruction lead to different effects at the level of course outcomes? Second, we examine empirical evidence at the program level: Do online and face-to-face graduate programs provide different academic experiences for their respective students, and how does program type influence the employability of graduates? We supplement these discussions with results from a survey of faculty who converted graduate courses to online delivery methods during the COVID-19 pandemic in spring of 2020. Finally, we provide practical considerations for administrators, educators, students, and applicant stakeholders of online programs. We also offer suggestions for optimizing learning and development in online environments. Our intent is to stimulate discussion on building effective learning environments and continuing to educate optimally effective industrial-organizational psychologists, regardless of delivery modality.

Despite the fact that women comprise nearly half of the workforce worldwide, they occupy only 21% of all C-suite positions (Catalyst, 2020). A common reason cited for women’s underrepresentation in leadership roles is the perceived lack-of-fit between feminine attributes and the attributes required for leadership roles (c.f., Zheng, Kark, & Meister, 2018). Yet, despite this reasoning, research suggests that perceptions of ideal leaders have become less agentic and more communal (Powell, Butterfield, & Jiang, 2021). Through a combination of theoretical and empirical studies, the papers in this symposium explore some of the myths and realities regarding the interplay among agentic and communal roles of leaders, with an eye toward facilitating women’s career progress.

Religion is a preeminent social institution that meaningfully shapes cultures. Prevailing theory suggests that it is primarily a benevolent force in business, and differences across world religions preclude examining effects that thread across religions. We develop a theoretical account that fundamentally challenges these assumptions by explaining how and why religiosity-regardless of which religion is prominent-differentiates based on gender, widening the gender wage gap. Guided by an integrated review of the religion literature, we specify three dimensions of gender differentiation-social domains, sexuality, and agency-that explain why religiosity widens the gender wage gap. A series of studies tested our theoretical model. Two studies showcased the predictive power of religiosity on the gender wage gap across 140 countries worldwide and the 50 United States via gender-differentiated social domains, sexuality, and agency, explaining 37% of the variance in the wage gap. U.S. longitudinal data indicated that the gender wage gap is narrowing significantly faster in secular states. Moreover, experiments allowed for causal inference, revealing that gender-egalitarian interventions blocked the effect of religiosity on the gender wage gap. Finally, theoretical and empirical accounts converge to suggest that religiosity's effect on the gender wage gap applies across the major world religions.

Religion is a preeminent social institution that meaningfully shapes cultures. Prevailing theory suggests that it is primarily a benevolent force in business, and differences across world religions preclude examining effects that thread across religions. We develop a theoretical account that fundamentally challenges these assumptions by explaining how and why religiosity — regardless of which religion is prominent — differentiates based on gender, widening the gender wage gap. Guided by an integrated review of the religion literature, we specify three dimensions of gender differentiation — social domains, sexuality, and agency — that explain why religiosity widens the gender wage gap. A series of studies tested our theoretical model. Two studies showcased the predictive power of religiosity on the gender wage gap across 140 countries worldwide and the 50 United States via gender-differentiated social domains, sexuality, and agency, explaining 37% of the variance in the wage gap. U.S. longitudinal data indicated the gender wage gap is narrowing significantly faster in secular states. Moreover, experiments allowed for causal inference, revealing that gender-egalitarian interventions blocked the effect of religiosity on the gender wage gap. Finally, theoretical and empirical evidence converge to suggest that religiosity’s effect on the gender wage gap applies across the major world religions.

Religion serves as a social institution that meaningfully shapes cultures. Yet, we know surprisingly little about how religious cultures relate to different economic outcomes for men and women. We seek to clarify how cultures’ religiosity impacts the gender wage gap and to offer theoretical and empirical account of key explanatory mechanisms. Drawing from sociological theories of religion, we predict that religious cultures positively relate to the gender wage gap and test our theoretical model with two samples: 130 countries worldwide and the 50 United States. Results indicate that religious culture positively related to the gender wage gap after controlling for a range of human capital, economic, and cultural predictors. Across both datasets, the effect of religious culture on the gender wage gap was explained by sexually objectifying women and minimizing women’s power in the public domain. The reproduction rate did not have a significant effect on the gender wage gap after accounting for the effects of sexual objectification and power in either dataset. Supplementary analyses of U.S. longitudinal data indicated that the gender wage gap is narrowing significantly faster in less religious cultures.

We propose a multilevel framework that addresses the criteria that can be used to assess training effectiveness at the within-person, between-person, and macro levels of analysis. Specifically, we propose four evaluation taxa—training utilization, affect, performance, and financial impact—as well as the specific evaluation metrics that can be captured to examine the facets of each taxon. Our multilevel framework also clarifies the appropriate level of analysis for assessing each criterion variable and articulates when it appropriate to aggregate responses from a lower level of analysis to assess training effectiveness at a higher level of analysis. Finally, we illustrate how training evaluation criteria are interrelated because understanding constructs' nomological network is essential for gauging the depth of knowledge that can be inferred by any evaluation effort.

In a just world, salaries should be allocated based on employees’ performance, but there is extensive evidence that reward allocation is often misaligned with employees’ workplace contributions. Drawing from the appraisal-tendency framework, we theorize and empirically demonstrate that anger undermines rater’s ability to allocate wages in accordance with employees’ performance. In three experiments, we manipulated employee performance and captured facial expressions of anger during the compensation decision-making process. Each study found rater anger moderated the effect of employee performance on compensation decisions. When no anger was expressed, ratings were unbiased–high performing employees were offered a higher salary than low performing employees. When anger was expressed, however, high performing employees were not offered a higher salary than low performing employees. Studies 2 and 3 also demonstrated that anger biased compensation decisions in a direction that generally protected views of oneself.

MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Course and represents an instructional approach that permits hundreds of thousands of students to access online courses anywhere around the world and typically free of charge. There have been a number of stories in the popular press suggesting that MOOCs may revolutionize training and education, but evidence regarding the instructional effectiveness of MOOCs is primarily anecdotal and overarching statistics reveal that the vast majority of students drop out before completing these courses. We pose three questions that need to be answered about the use and effectiveness of MOOCs before MOOCs can be considered a credible and useful instructional approach: 1) Who enrolls in MOOCs and why do they enroll? 2) Are students self-aware and able to self-regulate their learning in MOOCs? 3) Are MOOCs effective and how can we maximize their effectiveness?

This study proposes a mediated process model that seeks to explain how occupational strength influences personality heterogeneity, ultimately affecting attitudes and behaviors. Specifically, it proposes that strong occupations restrict personality heterogeneity (defined as the extent to which there is variability in incumbents' personalities), which mediates the effect of occupational strength on work-related outcomes. Using a sample of 178,087 individuals employed in 315 occupations, the results indicate that strong occupations (operationalized as having high task significance) had advantageous effects on occupational satisfaction, tenure, and turnover intentions, and these effects were partially mediated by personality heterogeneity. Task significance had a negative effect on personality heterogeneity, and personality heterogeneity led to less favorable attitudes and behaviors. The occupational autonomy operationalization of situational strength also had advantageous effects on incumbents' occupational satisfaction, tenure, and turnover intentions, but these effects were not mediated by personality heterogeneity. In addition, personality distance (defined as the extent to which incumbents were personally different from others in the occupation) adversely affected within-occupation attitudes and behaviors. This study reexamines situational strength theory, shifting the emphasis away from an interaction (behavior = person × situation) to an explanatory process (behavior is a function of personality heterogeneity, which is a function of situational strength). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).