Arlene Walker

Deakin University · School of Psychology

Objective: The literature shows employee trust in leaders supports organisational performance, despite much still being unknown about the employee-leader trust relationship. This study aimed to explore employee trust in leaders through trust breaches to broaden knowledge about the multidimensional nature of the trust construct and provide organisat...

Motivation for the study: Workplaces are changing with employees increasingly working remotely and flexibly, which has created larger physical distance between team members. This shift has consequences for trust research and implications for how trust is built and maintained between employees and leaders. Research design: Three studies collectiv...

Hiring new graduates is a cost-effective method of recruiting high-potential talent into organizations. Despite recent focus on graduate employability in the Australian higher education (HE) sector, a discrepancy remains between employer expectations of graduate work readiness (WR), and graduate perceptions of preparedness to commence professional...

Purpose This systematic review is a 5-year update of a previously conducted review on the longitudinal predictors of domestic violence perpetration and victimization. This review adopted the term ‘Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)’ to align with current literature and addressed two aims: to identify any novel longitudinal risk factors since the previ...

Objective: Emergency service workers (i.e., police, fire, ambulance, rescue personnel) are exposed to stressful events that can adversely impact their mental health and well-being. This systematic review investigated (1) what well-being initiatives and interventions have been implemented with Australian and New Zealand emergency service workers, (2...

Objective The Australian work environment is changing rapidly, as employees and leaders are becoming used to a blend between a virtual and face-to-face workplace. In this context, this research aimed to explore how leaders build and sustain trust in the contemporary workplace. Method Critical incident technique was used in interviews with employee...

Purpose The function (i.e., the motivation) of child-to-parent violence (CPV) is an important consideration for intervention but under researched, primarily due to a lack of appropriate measurement tools. The current study aimed to develop and validate a caregiver-report measure of the function of CPV (the Child-to-Parent Violence Functions Scale [...

Background Financial distress is thought to be a key reason why small-medium enterprise (SME) owners experience higher levels of mental health conditions compared with the broader population. Business advisors who form trusting, high-quality relationships with their SME clients, are therefore well placed to: (1) help prevent/reduce key sources of f...

The biophilia hypothesis posits an innate biological and genetic connection between human and nature, including an emotional dimension to this connection. Biophilic design builds on this hypothesis in an attempt to design human-nature connections into the built environment. This article builds on this theoretical framework through a meta-analysis o...

The current study examined the ability of a developmental assessment center to support and predict professional competency development in a vocational education context. A longitudinal study was conducted where graduate organizational psychology students (N = 157 students and 501 placements) completed a developmental assessment center at the beginn...

The current study examined the ability of a developmental assessment center to support and predict professional competency development in a vocational education context. A longitudinal study was conducted where graduate organizational psychology students (N = 157 students and 501 placements) completed a developmental assessment center at the beginn...

Humor studies are increasingly prevalent in workplace and leadership domains, it has shown significant development in the last 40 years. The multifaceted nature of humor means varied definitions and diverse measurement approaches have been approved. As a result, research methodologies and findings are not easily clarified, and have not been synthes...

This study explores two approaches to measuring coercive controlling behaviors (CCBs)—counting how many different CCB types and examining the frequency of each CCB experienced—to examine their utility in explaining the relationship between CCBs and physical intimate partner violence (IPV). Australian women aged 18–68 years ( n = 739; M age = 31.58,...

Developing student competence relevant to real-world practice has been a persistent challenge in tertiary education. Organisational psychologists use assessment centres in industry to measure job-relevant competencies of employees or job-candidates to facilitate accurate recruitment or development decisions. Despite its potential as an innovative a...

In this chapter place attachment is investigated and the question gets raised on how new propositions for the Anglesea mine site will influence sense of belonging: How do I feel living here? The chapter identifies that place attachment is one of the most distinct human behaviours; it is also multi-dimensional. Place attachment is not simply a respo...

Family and domestic violence (FDV) is a significant social issue that causes major harm across Australia. Alcohol has been identified as a contributing factor to FDV, and as such increased understanding of the role of alcohol in police-reported FDV incidents may provide the basis for developing specific clinical and forensic approaches. This study...

Trust is a contemporary topic, as society is losing trust in prominent institutions. Understanding trust in the workplace is critical, yet, a consensus around trust as unidimensional or multidimensional has not emerged in the literature. Some measure trust globally, while others measure its dimensions. This article builds on organisational trust re...

Exposure to parental violence can have devastating consequences for children, including significant personal, social, and academic problems. The present study determined the situational factors that are associated with children’s exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) incidents. To examine whether these factors were unique to child witnesses’...

Whilst we have seen a growth in the use of information and communication technologies to deliver interprofessional education (IPE) in the last decade, little has been written about facilitating IPE in the online environment. For the last 10 years, the Faculty of Health at Deakin University has offered a fully online IPE course that has consistently...

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global social health problem. Societal perceptions of IPV as a predominantly female issue have led to the development of research perspectives, frameworks, measures, and methodologies unable to capture the full scope of male victimization. Research has also been hampered by a reluctance from men to identify as v...

Asynchronous discussion boards have been increasingly used to engage teams of interprofessional learners in interactive and reflective discourse. Facilitation of this interprofessional discourse is critical, yet largely unexplored. The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework provides a lens through which facilitators’ contributions on asynchronous dis...

Drug use has been shown to interact in complex ways with the occurrence and prevalence of family and domestic violence (FDV), with illicit drug use being associated with an increased risk for FDV. The current study aims to extend upon the literature by investigating the role of illicit drugs in intimate partner violence (IPV), family violence (FV),...

Introduction and Aims The link between alcohol and experience of violence is well‐documented, but there is a paucity of empirical research on the role of alcohol specifically in family and domestic violence (FDV) in Australia. The aim of the current study was to describe the relationship between alcohol use and FDV in the Australian population, and...

The rapid growth of employee assistance Programmes (EAPs) has not been matched by the accompanying research base of their efficacy. Given the inconsistent information relating to the effectiveness of EAPs in enhancing employee and organizational outcomes, the present review systematically appraised available evidence from organizational psychology...

This qualitative study explored drinking behaviour of early-career Australian corporate professionals. A phenomenological approach was taken, using critical incident technique to collect data and thematic analysis to identify outcomes. Participants were asked about experiences drinking in the workplace. Thematic analysis revealed perceived advantag...

Alcohol/Drug-Involved Family Violence in Australia (ADIVA) primarily sought to determine the relationships between alcohol and other drug (AOD) use and family and domestic violence (FDV) in the general population. The project also investigated the role that demographic, social, and environmental factors play in the occurrence and severity of FDV, a...

Volunteer organizations face issues related to the retention of volunteers, not unlike those found in the paid workforce; however, management and authority structures and practices are different. In previous research, support factors and psychological contracts have been found to contribute to retention of employees. Few studies of volunteers have...

Background Health graduates face personal and work-related stressors during the graduate year. The extent to which employers and health graduates have a shared understanding of graduate stressors is unclear but may impact graduate support and transition into the health profession. Aim and design The aim of this exploratory qualitative study was to...

This paper reports on a systematic review of Australian qualitative nursing literature (2004–2014), identifying common features that impact Australian graduate nurses’ transition and integration into the workforce. Two researchers independently and systematically reviewed the literature using strict inclusion criteria. Initially 105 studies were id...

Objective: This article reports the findings of a systematic review of the peer-reviewed published evaluation literature which documents the outcomes of Australian youth violence prevention programmes. Method: A total of 19 evaluation studies evaluating 17 different programmes implemented across Australia were identified and categorised in terms of...

Domestic violence (DV) is a serious and complex social issue which is associated with significant costs to both those individuals who are directly affected and the wider community. Preventative approaches with vulnerable population groups represent an important component of any integrated response to DV and should be informed by an understanding of...

The transition from student to registered nurse is often stressful and has been attributed to a lack of work readiness. Understanding what comprises work readiness for newly registered nurses, or graduate nurses as they are referred to in Australia, may reduce attrition and improve transition into the workplace. The 64-item Work Readiness Scale (WR...

The study investigated the outcomes associated with breach and fulfillment of the psychological contract of safety. The psychological contract of safety is defined as the beliefs of individuals about reciprocal employer and employee safety obligations inferred from implicit or explicit promises. When employees perceive that safety obligations promi...

Background and aim: Graduate work readiness is a relatively new construct that can predict graduate potential. Its impact on graduate work outcomes however, is unknown. The current study aimed to explore the relationships between work readiness and a number of work outcomes (job satisfaction, work engagement, and intention to remain). Design and...

Australia has one of the world's most rapidly aging workforces and will inevitably experience labor shortages as a result. It is therefore necessary to examine factors that promote ability to work among aging workers in order to sustain a healthy aging workforce. The aim of this study was to investigate the direct and indirect effects of primary- a...

This chapter narrates and critically reflects upon our experience designing and delivering an educational development program for professionals supervising students during periods of workplace learning (WPL). Since the program focuses on educational skills and knowledge rather than profession-specific skills and knowledge, we use the terms educatin...

The transition to motherhood is a significant life event impacting on all spheres of a woman's life. In an organisational context, changes to women's relationships with their employer and to their social identity occur as they adjust to their new role. A case study was undertaken to describe and compare the workplace experiences of three female emp...

A three-year longitudinal qualitative study was undertaken to compare graduate nurses' (GNs') and Nurse Unit Managers' (NUMs') perceptions regarding the workplace factors that affect GNs' during the first year of clinical practice in a regional context in Victoria, Australia. In the first year a pilot study was used to develop a qualitative survey...

Work readiness is a relatively new concept which has emerged in the literature as a selection criterion for predicting graduate potential. Its definition and validity however, is contentious. To address this issue, the current study aimed to identify the attributes and characteristics that comprise work readiness and develop a scale to assess gradu...

As with any contract of employment, the mutual expectations of the employer and the apprentice/trainee are very important. Apprenticeships and traineeships have greater expectations than other employment contracts of employment because of the training component of the contract. This paper reports on some of the findings of a major NCVER-funded nati...

Graduate recruitment and selection differs from other contexts in that graduate applicants generally lack job-related experience. Recent research has highlighted that employers are placing increasing value on graduates being work ready. Work readiness is believed to be indicative of graduate potential in terms of long term job performance and caree...

This paper builds on previous research by the author and describes the development and validation of a new measure of the psychological contract of safety. The psychological contract of safety is defined as the beliefs of individuals about reciprocal safety obligations inferred from implicit and explicit promises. A psychological contract is establ...

A qualitative investigation of the safety culture of two contrasting organisations was undertaken. The research sought to identify categories and themes in the data that highlighted similarities and differences in salient safety issues for employees from the two organisations. The participants were 131 employees attending safety training sessions i...

Workforce planning at a national level within nursing and midwifery has been largely fragmented and uncoordinated with health-care organisations, state health authorities, peak nursing organisations and the tertiary sector often engaging in independent decision making and planning. In order to gain an increased understanding of the complexity of co...

Psychological contracts of safety are conceptualized as the beliefs of individuals about reciprocal safety obligations inferred from implicit or explicit promises. Although the literature on psychological contracts is growing, the existence of psychological contracts in relation to safety has not been established. The research sought to identify ps...

There is much evidence to indicate a shortage of Registered Nurses (RNs) in Australia and to suggest that the shortage may be more pronounced in rural and remote locations. Attracting RNs to work in rural and remote areas may not be as simple as increasing the intake of students into university undergraduate pre-registration nursing courses. There...

Research has indicated that carers are concerned about their ageing status, their deteriorating health and their ability to continue to care for their dependants. Given that the health care system will become increasingly reliant on carers the health care needs of carers should be a concern for all health care professionals. This paper describes th...