Carr, Stuart C. and Powell, Vanessa and Knezovic, Maria and Munro, Don and MacLachlan, Malcolm (1996) Measuring motivational gravity: Likert or scenario scaling? Journal of Managerial Psychology, 11 (5). pp. 43-47. ISSN 0268-3946

Preview

Download (24kB) | Preview

Abstract

Despite a growing body of findings that individualistic achievers incur punitive social costs in the workplaces of collectivistic and equalitarian cultures, little attention has so far been paid to measuring such motivational gravity in psychometrically appropriate ways. From egalitarian Australia, reports psychometric data from two organizational surveys, evaluating the 20‐item “Tall Poppy Scale” (TPS), a Likert instrument which measures attitudes towards high achievers in society, and the twin‐item “Motivational Gravity Scenario Scale” (MGSS), which focuses instead on behavioural intentions towards high achievers in one’s own workplace. In Study I, involving 80 employees of a retail chain, scores on the TPS were significantly and positively associated with social desirability effects on the Marlowe‐Crowne Scale, whereas the MGSS remained free of such confounding. In Study II, 47 employees of a major service organization rated the MGSS as significantly more satisfactory than did 49 university undergraduates, who preferred the TPS. Workplace scenarios may be more appropriate than the conventional Likert TPS for describing organizational cultures, but recommends the development of multiple‐item instruments for assessing individual differences in motivational gravity.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Attitude surveys; Australia; Corporate Culture; Motivation;
Academic Unit:	Assisting Living & Learning,ALL institute Faculty of Science and Engineering > Psychology
Item ID:	16588
Depositing User:	Malcolm MacLachlan
Date Deposited:	03 Oct 2022 11:48
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Managerial Psychology
Publisher:	Emerald
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

Repository Staff Only(login required)

Item control page

Downloads

Origin of downloads