Background
Scientific advances in organizational behavior research are contingent on measuring the relationship between employee psychological processes, behaviors, and organizational effectiveness. Theory-building efforts that rely on quantitative findings may suffer from self-report and monomethod bias. Unfortunately, most organizational studies still exclusively implement cross-sectional self-report surveys, making it challenging to disentangle the impact of construct or method variation on important work outcomes. The current study attempted to examine the relationship between the Positive Functioning at Work Scale (PF-W; Donaldson & Donaldson, in press) and Work Role Performance (Griffin, Neal, & Parker, 2007) beyond self-report and mono-method bias using a multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) approach.
Hypotheses/Research Questions
1. A multitrait-multimethod matrix of Positive Functioning at Work and Work Role Performance will demonstrate the desideratum criteria of convergent and discriminant validity proposed by Campbell and Fiske (1959).
2. Self-reported Positive Functioning at Work will significantly predict self-reported and collateral-reported Work Role Performance.
Sample Characteristics and Sample Size
A total of 442 participants in 221 co-worker pairs participated in the study.
Design
Self-reported and collateral-reported survey.
Results
Findings demonstrated a strong positive convergence between self-reported and collateral-reported PF-W (r > .85) and Work Role Performance, including organizational adaptivity (r > .71), organizational proactivity (r > .68), and organizational proficiency (r > .73). A multitrait-multimethod matrix showed that monomethod trait interrelationships were systematically higher than heteromethod trait interrelationships, with inflated correlations ranging from .07 to .20. Positive Functioning at Work was a significant predictor of Work Role Performance. Monomethod parameter estimates and coefficients of determination were generally higher than in bias corrected self-reports, knowledgeable collateral-reports, or heteromethod parameter estimates.
Scientific Contribution
The results provide support for the validity of the PF-W scale with Work Role Performance, and suggest the importance of including procedural design and statistical control methods in organizational studies with cross-sectional self-report surveys.