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)  (McCullough, Pargament, and Thoresen, 2000)  (Enright and Fitzgibbons, 2000)  (Exline and Baumeister, 2000)  (Kaplan, 1992)  (Williams, 1989)  (McCullough, 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 (McNulty, 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  (McNulty & 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 MSD 1. Achievement motivation --.45**.42**.28**.64**.22** Willingness to disclose **.14* Forgiveness.42**.55**--.21**.28**.18** Extrinsic motivation --.15*.19** Intrinsic motivation Openness Table 1. Descriptive Statistics and Correlations among Variables

RESULTS: ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION tp Forgiveness X Extrinsic Motivation Forgiveness X Agreeableness Forgiveness X Intrinsic Motivation

AGREEABLENESS Figure 1. Interactions between Employers’ Forgiveness and Employees’ Agreeableness. β =.20, SE =.08, t(214) = 2.37, p <.05, β =.36, SE =.08, t(214) = 4.88, p <.01 High Agreeableness Low Agreeableness

INTRINSIC MOTIVATION Figure 2. Interactions between Employers’ Forgiveness and Employees’ Intrinsic Motivation. β =.10, SE =.07, t(216) = 1.38, p =.17 β =.35, SE =.06, t(216) = 5.98, p <.01 High Intrinsic Motivation Low 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 McNulty  Michelle Russell, PhD. candidate: thank you for the time you have dedicated.

OPENNESS Figure 4: Interactions between Employers’ Forgiveness and Openness β =.96, SE =.11, t(218) = 8.972, p <.05 High Openness Low Openness β =.57, SE =.11, t(218) = 5.14, p <.05

TIME SPENT UNDER CURRENT EMPLOYER β =.64, SE =.11, t(216) = 6.13 p < Years worked with employer 3+ years worked with employer β = 1.03, SE =.13, t(216) = 7.90, p <.01