Alex Stajkovic

• Ph.D.
• Professor at University of Wisconsin–Madison

The author develops core confidence as a higher order construct and suggests that a core confidence-higher order construct--not addressed by extant work motivation theories--is helpful in better understanding employee motivation in today's rapidly changing organizations. Drawing from psychology (social, clinical, and developmental) and social anthr...

The authors conducted 2 studies of subconscious goal motivation. First, the authors ran a pilot study to establish the effects of priming of subconscious goals on a performance task frequently used in goal setting research. Second, the authors conducted the main study in which the authors examined the effects of both priming of subconscious goals a...

This meta-analysis (114 studies, k = 157, N = 21.616) examined the relationship between self-efficacy and work-related performance. Results of the primary meta-analysis indicated a significant weighted average correlation between self-efficacy and work-related performance, G(r+) = .38, and a significant within-group heterogeneity of individual corr...

Self-regulation theories explain how psychological processes translate into action. We conceptualize the role of the trait core confidence higher-order construct in self-regulation processes and hypothesize its positive relationships with performance, satisfaction with life, and job satisfaction. On the basis of meta-analytic data (studies = 141, k...

The coronavirus disease that emerged in 2019 (COVID-19) spotlights the need for effective leadership in a crisis. Leadership research in applied psychology suggests that women tend to be preferred over men as leaders during uncertain times. We contribute to this literature by examining, in the context of COVID-19, whether states with women governor...

Widespread social unrest occurred in the United States in the Summer of 2020. Citizens took to the streets to challenge the prevailing social justice framework. According to event systemstheory, these Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests were high-strength, as they represented novel, critical, and disruptive events. They were also mega-threats as they...

Growing evidence suggests the presence of a female leadership advantage (FLA), such that women leaders tend to be associated with more effective outcomes in uncertain conditions. However, mechanisms linking women's leadership to effective outcomes are less well understood. We integrate FLA insights with ethics of care philosophical framework to con...

The effects of primed money have received widespread attention in social psychology but not in the organizational literature. This research examines whether priming money causes people to think and behave in ways consistent with how they would act if they received real money. Money priming research has not made many inferences to organizations, but...

We conceptualise the mitigating role of trait core confidence on psychological distress in entrepreneurship manifested by occupational stress, anxiety, and depression. To facilitate field research, we first developed a short trait core confidence scale and validated it in six independent samples (N = 2,434). To test our hypothesis that trait core c...

Work motivation research is at a crossroads with the discovery of the causal effects of primed subconscious goals in addition to those of consciously set goals on performance. Although social psychologists continue to demonstrate positive effects of primed goals on a multitude of dependent variables, priming research has been criticized for its lac...

In conceptualizations presented in social cognitive theory (SCT), humans are not passive objects shaped and shepherded by contingent consequences of an environment. People are agentic; they proactively make their way through the intricacies and dualities of life. To attain desired outcomes, people make judgments about the interplay among environmen...

Reader’s Digest Version of Prime and Prejudice

Drawing upon theoretical perspectives from applied and social psychology, sociology, and management literatures, we develop a conceptual model in which conscious and subconscious prejudice interact to cause work discrimination. We posit that consciously non‐prejudiced employees can face cognitive trade‐offs outside of awareness that stem from a con...

Goals regulate workplace behavior day after day, but employees still occasionally veer off course. Goal pursuit can be sidetracked perceptibly and undetectably. If conscious goals are discernably conflicted, an employee can ask for help. If conscious and subconscious goals are conflicted, however, one is only aware of the former goal. The key downs...

The Big Five personality traits and self-efficacy independently relate to a multitude of outcomes across domains of functioning. Yet, only a small number of studies examined these variables together as part of the same conceptual model, and findings are mixed. We revisit their joint relationships, and test three conceptual models of influence on ac...

It is difficult to conceive of a society populated with people who are completely unmoved by the respect, approval, and reproof of others.

Although support for the positive effect of group efficacy on group performance is copious, our understanding of how group efficacy forms is scant. Much remains unanswered about how the four efficacy antecedents, defined by social cognitive theory as enacted mastery, vicarious learning, social persuasion, and affect, concurrently influence group ef...

This chapter is mostly concerned with social or informal recognition. The focus of the chapter is that providing recognition leads to performance improvement. The effect of positive reinforcement, contingently applied, on performance improvement may be one of the most agreed upon principles in the field of organizational behavior, and arguably psyc...

In this field study (n = 514), we examined the relationships among interpersonal trust, interpersonal emotion, cooperation, and the characteristics of both the trustor and trustee at work. We found that interpersonal trust and interpersonal emotion were positively related to willingness to cooperate among members working in teams. We also found tha...

This article examines the relevance and viability of pursuing empirical research on subconscious goals and applying the findings in the workplace. Five topics are addressed: First, reasons why management scholars have eschewed the study of the subconscious are given. Second, a brief overview of social psychology experiments on subconscious goals is...

The authors examined relationships among collective efficacy, group potency, and group performance. Meta-analytic results (based on 6,128 groups, 31,019 individuals, 118 correlations adjusted for dependence, and 96 studies) reveal that collective efficacy was significantly related to group performance (.35). In the proposed nested 2-level model, co...

This study examines Bandura's (1986, 1997a) propositions that self-efficacy provides information from which causal attributions are made and that causal attributions, in turn, influence formation of subsequent self-efficacy expectations. We developed a conceptual rationale for and empirically tested 2 sets of hypotheses pertaining to direct and rec...

We develop a theoretical framework that links charismatic leadership to the extensiveness of one's social network and then predicts that such network extensiveness can subsequently be related to an individual's motivation to set challenging personal career goals. To assess the generalizability and boundary conditions of our theory, we test it in tw...

In this study, we provide the conceptual background, meta-analyze available behavioral management studies (N= 72) in organizational settings, and examine whether combined reinforcement effects on task performance are additive (sum of individual effects), redundant (combined effects are less than the additive effects), or synergistic (combined effec...

In this field experiment, we first compared the performance effects of money systematically administered through the organizational behavior modification (O.B. Mad.) model and routine pay for performance and then compared the effects of O.B. Mod.-administered money, social recognition, and performance feedback. The money intervention based on the O...

This study examines Bandura's (1986, 1997a) propositions that self-efficacy provides information from which causal attributions are made and that causal attributions, in turn, influence formation of subsequent self-efficacy expectations. We developed a conceptual rationale for and empirically tested 2 sets of hypotheses pertaining to direct and rec...

In the former planned economies, a major result of the economic reform programs has been the resurgence of private entrepreneurship. As these countries have struggled to make the transition to a market-based economy over the past decade, the environment has played an important structural role in entrepreneurial development. However, from a psycholo...

Perhaps the most talked about, if not actually implemented, practical solution tor making human resources more productive is pay for performance. Yet many researchers and practitioners doubt the true effectiveness of this approach. To help solve this controversy, we suggest drawing from reinforcement theory and behavioral management. This approach...

Hedges and Olkin’s meta-analytic procedures for fitting parametric fixed effect categorical models to effect sizes have been widely used in research in experimental, social, and educational psychology. However, to date, this meta-analytic approach has been largely absent from the management literature in general and organizational behavior literatu...

This meta-analysis (114 studies, k = 157, N = 21,616) examined the relationship between self-efficacy and work-related performance. Results of the primary meta-analysis indicated a significant weighted average correlation between self-efficacy and work-related performance, G (r+) = .38, and a significant within-group heterogeneity of individual cor...

As posed in the title, the authors make a case for the use of behavioral management as a pragmatic and effective way to help East European managers improve employee performance. After providing the cultural and theoretical grounding for the use of a behavioral approach, the five-step O.B. Mod. model is presented. The successful use of O.B. Mod. in...

The purpose of this report is to offer social cognitive theory (SCT) and its derivative construct of self-efficacy as an extension of traditional management approaches, that will lead to both a better understanding in the modern workplace and more effective management of human performance. SCT explains organizational behavior in terms of the recipr...

As posed in the title, the authors make a case for the use of behavioral management as a pragmatic and effective way to help East European managers improve employee performance. After providing the cultural and theoretical grounding for the use of a behavioral approach, the five-step O.B. Mod. model is presented. The successful use of O.B. Mod. in...

Results of a primary meta-analysis indicated a significant main effect of the organizational behavior modification (O.B. Mod.) approach on task performance [d. =.51; a 17 percent increase) and a significant treat ment-by-study interaction. To account for within group heterogeneity of effect sizes, we conducted a two-level theory driven moderator an...

This article presents a social cognitive model that identifies, defines and relates key comprehensive factors that impact on business ethical standards and conduct across cultures. In particular, national cultures serve as the social foundation for generating and shaping in a triadically interacting manner institutional, organizational, and persona...