Pay Me in Equity: Can Equal Opportunity Climate Attenuate Counterproductive Work Behavior?

In the military, force readiness is essential to mission readiness. To this end, the current study sought to identify how equal opportunity (EO) climate may enhance force readiness by mitigating withholding of effort, a counterproductive work behavior (CWB). Specifically, I assessed how EO climate may both directly and indirectly mitigate withholding of effort through emotional exhaustion, emotional stability, and conscientiousness. Using the conservation of resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll, 1989), I suggested that EO climate, emotional stability, and conscientiousness minimize withholding of effort by acting as a resource. I hypothesized EO climate would have both a direct and indirect effect on withholding of effort through emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, I hypothesized that the relationship between EO climate and emotional exhaustion would be moderated by emotional stability, such that when emotional stability is high, the relationship between EO climate and emotional exhaustion is low. Additionally, I hypothesized that conscientiousness would moderate the relationship between emotional exhaustion and withholding of effort, such that when conscientiousness is high, the relationship between emotional exhaustion and withholding of effort would be low. I found partial support for my hypotheses. The implications of my study are twofold: EO climate does mitigate withholding of effort, potentially enhancing performance, and resources may have ceiling (rather than additive) effects.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology, Industrial and Organizational

Grantor

University of Houston

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Polk, Kara

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Campion, James E.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Witt, L. Alan
• Atwater, Leanne E.
• Farmer, Benjamin

• Climate
• Equal opportunity climate
• Counterproductive work behavior

Statement dc:rights

• The author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10657/5619

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uh-ir.tdl.org:10657/5619