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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    CREATING ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENS: A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL AND QUALITATIVE EXAMINATION OF SUPERVSIOR- AND PEER-BASED INTERVENTIONS
    (2016) Parke, Michael; Tangirala, Subra; Business and Management: Management & Organization; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Research suggests that supervisors and peers can help employees make sense of what is important or expected from them at work and, thereby, shape their behaviors. In this dissertation, I examine how employees’ organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB), such as helping and voice, are differentially affected by these two sources of influence over time. In particular, I compare the relative and joint effectiveness of two field interventions to enhance OCB: (a) a role clarification intervention in which supervisors are trained to set expectations for OCB for their employees and encourage them to engage in OCB and (b) a norm establishment intervention in which peers are trained to set expectations for each other and encourage each other to perform OCB. I utilize a mixed methods approach involving a quasi-field experiment to test for changes in OCB and qualitative data to explore the theoretical mechanisms over the course of three months in a large food processing plant. I find that role clarification interventions alone have immediate positive effects on OCB, whereas norm establishment interventions alone take a longer period of time to increase OCB. In addition, in the condition where both interventions were combined, norm establishment interventions weaken the effects of role clarification earlier on; however, at later stages in time, this pattern reverses as norm establishment enhances the effects of role clarification on OCB. Through these findings, I highlight how (a) organizations seeking quick increases in citizenship might be better off focusing on supervisors as sources of influence; (b) organizations need to persist with peer-focused interventions to see positive gains; and (c) despite initial hurdles with peer-focused interventions, over time, they can lead to the highest increases in OCB when combined with supervisor-focused interventions.
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    The Forgotten Peer for Black Adolescents
    (2014) Rowan, Zachary; McGloin, Jean M.; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Efforts to understand peer influence among adolescents have established the robust relationship between having deviant peers and future deviant behavior. Nonetheless, research suggests peer influence affects different types of adolescents in different ways. Specifically, Black adolescents may be less susceptible to friends compared to White adolescents and possess stronger family-orientation, suggesting that another peer may assume a heightened salience. Namely, siblings may affect deviance of Black adolescents whereas friends will have a minimal impact. This thesis used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to evaluate the relative strength of friend and sibling influence on Black and White adolescent deviant behavior. Results indicate that siblings explain Black and White adolescent drinking and smoking; however, the effect of siblings is stronger among Black adolescents. Friends only emerge as a significant predictor of delinquency for White adolescents. Methodological and theoretical implications for future research on peer processes are discussed.
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    Following the Leader: Examining peer influence on sexual behavior
    (2009) Bears, Megan Ann; McGloin, Jean M; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    A number of previous studies have found that peers influence adolescent sexual behavior. Still, it remains unclear how the mechanisms of peer influence operate on the sexual behavior of adolescents. This is unfortunate because it limits theoretical clarity and inhibits the production of policy aimed at reducing adolescent sexual behavior. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this thesis extends upon current literature and determines the role of peer attitudes and behaviors on different forms of adolescent sexual behavior as measured by peer self-report data while addressing other limitations of previous research such as whether or not mechanisms of peer influence are conditioned by adolescent involvement with peers. The discussion of this work centers around the theoretical implications of the findings that peers do not influence all forms of sexual behavior and peer behaviors seem to be the only mechanism of peer influence that predict sexual onset.