Theses and Dissertations from UMD
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item A Prosocial Contributor or Status Grabber? How and Why Newcomer Proactive Knowledge Sharing with Coworkers Impacts Inclusion Perceptions via Ambivalent Coworker Attributions(2023) Guan, Zhishuang; Liao, Hui HL; Business and Management: Management & Organization; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Newcomers are often referred to as the “new blood” because they represent a source of fresh, unique, task-relevant knowledge that potentially adds value to organizations. In this research, I focus on newcomer proactive knowledge sharing with coworkers and investigate how it impacts the transition of newcomers from outsiders to insiders. Integrating attribution theory and the status characteristics theory, I propose that newcomer proactive knowledge sharing with coworkers triggers coworkers’ ambivalent attributions (i.e., perceiving it to be driven simultaneously by newcomers’ prosocial and status-striving motives). Furthermore, the ambivalent attributions affect the extent to which coworkers provide socialization support and utilize the newcomer’s knowledge, eventually exerting different influences on the newcomer’s inclusion perceptions. The results of a multi-wave (i.e., four waves) and multi-source (i.e., survey data from newcomers and coworkers) longitudinal study based on 336 newcomers in a large technology company support the proposed serial mediating relationships between newcomer proactive knowledge sharing with coworkers and their inclusion perceptions via coworkers’ ambivalent attributions and behavioral reactions. The data also demonstrates that leader encouragement of learning is a viable leader strategy that makes coworkers more likely to interpret newcomer proactive knowledge sharing is driven by prosocial motives. This research has significant implications both theoretically and practically. From a theoretical perspective, it advances our understanding of newcomer socialization, knowledge sharing, and workplace inclusion. From a practical perspective, it helps newcomers better navigate the process of knowledge sharing by illuminating potential social consequences. Practitioners can leverage these insights to create more inclusive onboarding experiences for new employees.Item Attachment and Peer and Romantic Relationship Functioning: The Role of Social Information Processing(2022) Fitter, Megan Haley; Cassidy, Jude; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Perhaps the most central tenet of attachment theory is that individual differences in attachment quality relate to social functioning (Bowlby, 1969/82, 1973, 1980). Indeed, abundant research demonstrates that early insecurity toward caregivers relates to poor functioning in later peer and romantic relationships (Englund et al., 2011; McElwain et al., 2008), and individuals’ attachment orientations relate to their concurrent functioning with peers and romantic partners (Collins et al, 2006; Groh et al., 2014). For decades, researchers have been trying to understand why these connections exist. The aim of this dissertation is to help answer this question with a collection of three empirical studies testing social information processing (SIP) as a mechanism through which attachment predicts individual differences in social functioning. The present studies focus on two critical components of SIP—expectations and attributions. Study 1 (N = 2100) examined the indirect effects of adolescents’ attachment style dimensions on their acceptance by peers—assessed with sociometric peer ratings—through negative expectations of peers’ behaviors. Findings revealed that adolescents with greater attachment anxiety (fears of rejection and abandonment) and avoidance (discomfort with closeness) held negative expectations for how their peers would behave, and negative expectations in turn related to low acceptance by peers. Study 2 (N = 347) examined the role of attribution biases and friendship quality on pathways from early attachment to young adolescent romantic relationship quality. Longitudinal latent variable structural equation modeling analyses did not yield evidence for attribution biases or friendship quality as mediators on such pathways. Further, no direct links between early attachment to mothers and romantic relationship quality emerged. Findings did, however, show relations between early attachment to mothers and negative attribution biases about peers, as well as between friendship quality and romantic relationship quality. Study 3 (N = 198) examined a causal link between young adults’ attachment and attribution biases using an experimental priming procedure. Security priming—temporarily boosting feelings of security—led participants to make fewer negative attributions about hypothetical romantic partners’ transgressions. Participants with fewer negative attributions, in turn, reported that they would respond less negatively to the transgressions. Findings across the three studies provide support for SIP as a mechanism through which some conceptualizations of attachment (i.e., attachment style dimensions and temporary feelings of security) relate to social functioning, but findings do not support the theory that SIP explains longitudinal links between early attachment and later social functioning.Item Understanding and Retraining the Causal Attributions for Exercise Intenders(2019) Singpurwalla, Darius; Iso-Ahola, Seppo E; Kinesiology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Given that ~50% of all exercise intenders will fall into the intention-behavior gap (i.e., a situation where people fail to act on their intentions), it is necessary to identify the constructs and/or theories that can explain the discord between intention and behavior (i.e., the intention-behavior gap). For this purpose, the present research was conducted through two studies that were designed to test the efficacy of causal attributions as a means to reduce the intention-behavior discord. The first study collected information from 952 individuals on their exercise behavior and their associated causal attributions over a six-week period. The findings from this study included: (1) those individuals who fell into the intention-behavior gap made self-serving attributions for their exercise failure; (2) Weiner’s model accurately predicted several of the affective and cognitive responses to exercise behavior for the sample of exercise intenders; and (3) causal attributions were not found to be effective moderators of the intention-behavior relationship. The second study was an experiment that tested whether an attribution retraining intervention could improve exercise behavior for a sample of sedentary, exercise intenders (n=200). Results of this study were mixed as the intervention appeared to have been able to modify one of the targeted attributional dimensions (control), but the effect was not strong enough to change the exercise behavior of the participants in the experimental group. It is suggested that attributions may not be able to reduce the gap because they represent conscious deliberations of the behavior, while sustained exercise is based on nonconscious processing of relevant information to make exercise an automatic behavior.Item Cognitive and Physiological Mediators of the Link Between Maternal Attachment and Self-Reported Responses to Child Distress(2013) Brett, Bonnie Erin; Cassidy, Jude A; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Given recent evidence that caregivers' responses to their children's distress are predictive of a host of child outcomes, the goal of the present study was to examine attachment related differences in maternal responses to child distress. In addition, I examined whether the link between maternal attachment and maternal responses to child distress was mediated by maternal negative attribution biases about infant distress and maternal electrodermal reactivity in the context of infant distress. Path analyses revealed that (a) maternal attachment-related anxiety was positively related to maternal distress reactions to child distress, (b) that maternal negative attribution biases were negatively related to supportive maternal responses, and (c) that maternal electrodermal reactivity was positively linked with unsupportive maternal responses. These findings advance the literature on the maternal characteristics associated with supportive and unsupportive maternal responses to child distress.Item Should I Stay or Should I Go? Cognitive and Relationship Factors Associated with the Likelihood of Relationship Dissolution among Couples Experiencing Mild to Moderate Physical and Psychological Common Couple Violence(2013) Curtis, David Stuart; Epstein, Norman B; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)There has been insufficient attention given to mild to moderate bi-directional intimate partner violence in the literature. Using a secondary dataset in which strict exclusion criteria decreased the likelihood of cases of partner battering being included, this study investigated the association between mild to moderate intimate psychological and physical aggression and steps taken by the recipient to leave an intimate relationship among a sample of 251 couples who sought therapy at a University-based clinic. Based on the relative costs and benefits model, the degree to which relationship satisfaction mediated the association between aggression received and steps taken to leave was tested. The moderating effects of social support from friends and attributions blaming the partner for relationship problems also were investigated. Findings indicated that psychological aggression was a particularly significant predictor of steps being taken to leave by the recipient, and that relationship satisfaction mediated this association, especially for males.