WHEN FORGIVENESS MATTERS CORRELATING FORGIVENESS WITH ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION

WHEN FORGIVENESS MATTERS: CORRELATING FORGIVENESS WITH ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION AND WILLINGNESS TO DISCLOSE IN THE WORKPLACE ANTHONY J. BELLUCCIA HONORS THESIS FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE: FORGIVENESS OF THE EMPLOYER (Thoresen, Harris, and Luskin, 2000) (Mc. Cullough, Pargament, and Thoresen, 2000) (Enright and Fitzgibbons, 2000) (Exline and Baumeister, 2000) (Kaplan, 1992) (Williams, 1989) (Mc. Cullough, 2000) (Bright, Fry and Cooperrider 2006) Porath and Erez (2009) discovered that unforgiving behavior negatively affects performance on tasks. When organization members witness forgiveness, a mutually reinforcing cycle begins and increases overall performance on daily tasks (Cameron, Bright and Caza, 2004).

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE: FORGIVENESS OF THE EMPLOYER Some studies show negative side of forgiveness Tendency to forgive in marriages predicts continued aggression (Mc. Nulty, 2011) In our case, offender is employee Contingencies of Reinforcement: behaviors are less likely to be repeated if followed by unwanted outcomes Employers who don’t forgive mistakes motivate employees to change. Similar study: (Overall et al. , 2009)

DEPENDENT VARIABLE 1: ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION OF THE EMPLOYEE SO WHAT MOTIVATES EMPLOYEES ANYWAY? A) interesting work B) good wages C) appreciated work D) Job security Dieleman (2003): motivation influenced primarily by how appreciative employers are Steelman (2004): motivated to improve after negative feedback

MODERATING VARIABLES Moderating Variable 1: Personality of the employee (Mc. Nulty & Russell, in prep): agreeable individuals less likely to transgress a forgiving partner, feel obligated to reciprocate kindness Shepard (2008) discovered that the more agreeable someone is, the more positively they respond to forgiveness Moderating Variable 2: Extrinsic Motivation vs Intrinsic Motivation Extrinsically motivated -> deviant and anti-social in the workplace Intrinsically motivated -> organizationally involved and committed Dysvik (2010): intrinsic motivated individuals need less management intervention to perform high quality work

DEPENDENT VARIABLE 2: WILLINGNESS TO DISCLOSE Honesty around boss, willingness to share (not task related) Willingness to disclose: an indicator that a forgiving relationship exists between employer and employee (Stone, 2002). Rusbult (1991): honesty between individuals is bolstered when they report higher levels of forgiveness for partners’ mistakes.

HYPOTHESES Employers’ forgiveness and employees’ achievement motivation will be negatively correlated, especially among employees who are extrinsically motivated Employers’ forgiveness and employees’ achievement motivation will be positively correlated to the extent that the employee exhibits agreeable personality traits Employers’ forgiveness and employees’ willingness to disclose will be positively correlated

METHOD Correlational Study of 220 employed adults who use Mechanical Turk • 119 males, 100 females • Primarily white • Average age: 33. 1 • Average salary: $40, 858 $0. 25 reward for completion Study consisted of 9 sections overall

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE SCALES Forgiveness Measures Tendency to Forgive (TTF) and Transgressions Related Interpersonal Motivations Inventory (TRIM): 13 items Employee reports of employers “Immediate employer” used throughout survey “If I make a mistake during the workday, my employer tends to get angry” (Reversed) (TTF) Reliability for the scale was acceptable (α=0. 85) “indicate your employer’s reactions when you make a mistake on a task at work…” (TRIM) Reliability for the scale was acceptable (α=0. 95). Combined forgiveness scale (α=0. 86)

DEPENDENT VARIABLE SCALES Achievement Motivation Measures Achievement Motivation Scale (AM) (α=0. 75), Motivation Questionnaire (MQ) (α=0. 91), Measure of Achievement Motivation (MAM) (α=0. 68): 14 items “I feel inclined to give my top performance for all my workplace duties” Combined Achievement Motivation Scale: (α=0. 90) Willingness to Disclose Measure Self Disclosure Scale (SDS) (α=0. 84): 5 items “The messages I send to my employer are usually consistent with what I am actually feeling”

MODERATING VARIABLE SCALES Personality Measure Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI): 10 items “I am critical, quarrelsome” Extrinsic/Intrinsic Motivation Work Extrinsic/Intrinsic Motivation Scale (EIM): 6 items “I do my work because I derive much pleasure from doing new things” (I) “I do my work for the income it provides me” (E)

DESCRIPTIVE STATS AND CORRELATIONS 1 2 3 4 5 6 M SD -- . 45** . 42** . 28** . 64** . 22** -. 01 . 91 . 12 . 39** . 14* 4. 63 1. 34 . 21** . 28** . 18** 0 . 94 -- . 15* . 19** 16. 89 3. 15 -- . 10 13. 95 5. 04 -- 5. 01 1. 24 1. Achievement motivation 2. Willingness to disclose -3. Forgiveness. 42** . 55** -- 4. Extrinsic motivation 5. Intrinsic motivation 6. Openness Table 1. Descriptive Statistics and Correlations among Variables

RESULTS: ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION t p Forgiveness X Extrinsic Motivation -0. 54 0. 59 Forgiveness X Agreeableness -1. 61 0. 11 Forgiveness X Intrinsic -3. 06 Motivation 0. 003

AGREEABLENESS 0. 8 High Agreeableness Employees' Achievement Motivation 0. 6 β =. 20, SE =. 08, t(214) = 2. 37, p <. 05 0. 4 0. 2 Low Forgiveness 0 High Forgiveness -0. 2 Low Agreeableness -0. 4 β =. 36, SE =. 08, t(214) = 4. 88, p < -0. 6 -0. 8 Low Agreeableness High Agreeableness Figure 1. Interactions between Employers’ Forgiveness and Employees’ Agreeableness.

INTRINSIC MOTIVATION 2 High Intrinsic Motivation Employees' Achievement Motivation 1. 5 β =. 10, SE =. 07, t(216) = 1. 38, p =. 17 1 0. 5 Low Forgiveness 0 High Forgiveness Low Intrinsic Motivation -0. 5 β =. 35, SE =. 06, t(216) = 5. 98, p <. 01 -1 -1. 5 -2 Low Intrinsic motivation High Intrinsic motivation Figure 2. Interactions between Employers’ Forgiveness and Employees’ Intrinsic Motivation.

DIRECTION FOR FUTURE RESEARCH This study contributed to other findings that suggests the forgiveness elicits positive behaviors in others High correlation exists between forgiveness and willingness to disclose in the workplace Longitudinal study to establish causation 3 way interaction: low agreeableness Size of the firm (Cameron, 2002)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thesis Director: Dr. James Mc. Nulty Michelle Russell, Ph. D. candidate: thank you for the time you have dedicated.

OPENNESS Willingness to Disclose 6 5 High Openness 4 β =. 96, SE =. 11, t(218) = 8. 972, p <. 05 Low Forgiveness 3 High Forgiveness Low Openness 2 β =. 57, SE =. 11, t(218) = 5. 14, p <. 05 1 0 Low Openness High Openness Figure 4: Interactions between Employers’ Forgiveness and Openness

TIME SPENT UNDER CURRENT EMPLOYER 0 -2 Years worked with employer 6 Willinginess to Disclose 5 0 -2 years worked for employer 4 3 3+ years worked for employer 2 1 β =. 64, SE =. 11, t(216) = 6. 13 p <. 01 3+ years worked with employer β = 1. 03, SE =. 13, t(216) = 7. 90, p <. 01 0 Low Forgiveness High Forgiveness