ABSTRACT
The present study is an investigation of situational and dispositional characteristics that may predispose an employee to perceive his or her organization as political. Participants were 501 regular members, civilian members, and public servants of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Measures used for this research were the Formalization Scale (G. R. Oldham & J. R. Hackman, 1981), the Job Autonomy Scale (H. P. Sims, A. D. Szilagyi, & R. T. Keller, 1976), the Mach IV (A. Zook & G. J. Sipps, 1986), the Dominance subscale from the Manifest Needs Questionnaire (R. M. Steers & D. N. Braunstein, 1976), the Survey of Organizational Climate (J. C. Taylor & D. G. Bowers, 1972), the Perceptions of Organizational Politics Scale (G. R. Ferris & K. M. Kacmar, 1992), and the Work Locus of Control Scale (P. E. Spector, 1988). Results indicated that organizational climate, formalization, work locus of control (both internal and external measures), and Machiavellianism were significant predictors, accounting for 52% of the variance in participants' perceptions of organizational politics. Limitations of the present study and directions for future research are outlined.
Subject(s)
Organizational Culture , Perception , Politics , Adult , Female , Humans , Machiavellianism , Male , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
This study examined the psychometric properties of the Anti-fat Attitudes Scale (AFAS), a 5-item instrument developed by the authors to measure negative attitudes toward overweight individuals. A total of 4 studies were conducted among Canadian adolescents (n = 1,452) and university students (n = 424). Results suggested that the AFAS possessed a unidimensional factor structure and satisfactory reliability for both men and women. As predicted, men obtained higher scores than women on the AFAS, and antifat attitudes were positively associated with authoritarianism, homonegativity, and political conservatism. Participants who were overweight had lower scores on the AFAS than participants who were thin or average weight. Responses on the AFAS did not appear to be contaminated by social desirability bias.
